


Everything's Easier to Handle When It’s Sugarcoated

by EliseW



Category: The Tunnel (TV)
Genre: Case Fic, F/F, Screenplay/Script Format, Spoilers for Season 2
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-06
Updated: 2018-03-23
Packaged: 2018-08-19 22:26:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 15
Words: 48,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8226736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EliseW/pseuds/EliseW
Summary: Sequel to “The New Bookshelf”.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> **Concerning the Archive Warning: There are no details, just certain hints. They're in chapters 14 and 15.**
> 
> Élise’s and Eryka’s situation at this point is explained in “The New Bookshelf”, so I suggest you read that one first, so you know where we are...
> 
> There will be coming up people from several different countries in this story. Most of the names I used for them I got from [here](http://fantasynamegenerators.com/#realNames).  
> I’ve got no idea if those names really are common names in the respective country or if they might be unusual for people of a certain age for example. If you are from one of the countries in question and one of the names strikes you as odd I totally blame that homepage...  
> If in that case you want to suggest a name that seems more fitting, I appreciate your input of course! The same applies - as always - for the French sentences coming up.

**THE OUTDOOR SITTING AREA OF A CAFE ON BOARD OF A SHIP AT THE BANKS OF THE THAMES, NEAR THE EASTERN END OF LAMBETH BRIDGE**

 

_It’s late summer. Tourists and Londoners on their lunchbreak are enjoying the last days of summer sun. In the background, downstream, at the other side of the river we see Big Ben and the House of Parliament._

_At one table a family - mother, father and a little girl, about two years old. The father helps the girl to drink apple juice from her glass._

 

**THE ENTRANCE DOOR TO THE INTERIOR OF THE CAFE**

 

_A dark haired woman with large sunglasses and a sun hat comes out of the door. She walks over to a table at the railing next to the family’s table and sits down. There is a half-finished large glass with a fancy coffee drink in front of her._

_The observant viewer has recognised Eryka by now._

_She comfortably leans back in her chair and takes a sip from her coffee drink looking out over the river, enjoying the scenery._

_We hear a child giggling._

_Eryka looks over to the family at the next table._

 

**THE FAMILY’S TABLE, SEEN FROM ERYKA’S POV**

 

_The father is fooling around with the kid. The kid is laughing. The mother observes father and daughter smilingly._

_From this angle the camera is filming upstream. The camera pans up slowly taking in more of the background. It's lingering on a large building that's visible a little further upstream. It's the MI6 headquarter._

 

**BACK TO ERYKA’S TABLE**

 

_Something vibrates in her purse. She takes her phone out and looks at the display. She gets a book out of her purse and puts it onto the table in front of her. She takes a look at her phone again and starts to flip through the pages of the book._

 

**CLOSE-UP OF THE PAGE OF THE BOOK**

 

_We see Eryka’s finger run down the lines on the page. She stops at one line and her finger runs along the words in the line. Her finger stops under “Can’t”._

 

**Cut to the broader angle:**

**ERYKA AT HER TABLE**

 

_Repeatedly she’s looking at the phone’s display and flipping through the book, her finger wandering over the pages. After a while she closes the book and puts the phone down onto the table. She leans back in her chair frowning discontentedly._

_The family at the next table gets their food. Eryka waves at the waiter._

 

ERYKA: I’d like to pay, please!

 

_The waiter gets to Eryka’s table. She hands him a credit card. After she has payed she gets up and leaves._

 

**Cut to:**

**THE FAMILY’S TABLE**

 

_In the background we see Eryka walk over the landing stage._

 

FATHER ( _to daughter_ ): Do you want some of Daddy’s tomato soup?

 

_In the background Eryka strolls along the foot path at the river bank, moving away from the cafe without any apparent hurry._

_The child nods eagerly. The father puts some of his soup into a smaller cup and places it in front of his daughter. He hands her a tea spoon. They all start eating._

 

\--------------------

 

**A CEMETERY**

 

_A funeral is taking place. People standing at an open grave. The vicar is talking._

_In the front row a man and a boy, about twelve year old, both wearing dark suits. The man has his hand on the boy's shoulder. He is blankly staring at the grave. Tears are silently running over the boy’s face, but he doesn’t make a sound._

 

Later:

**STILL AT THE CEMETERY**

 

_The boy and the man are sitting on a bench under a tree on the cemetery. The man has taken off his jacket. It’s slung over the backrest of the bench. The other people who were at the funeral can be seen leaving in the background. A few rows of graves away the gravediggers have started to fill up the grave._

 

BOY ( _softly but determinedly_ ): Mum got murdered!

 

FATHER ( _slightly annoyed_ ): Don’t start again!

 

BOY ( _desperately_ ): But you can’t just ignore it!

 

FATHER ( _trying to control his anger_ ): I’m not ignoring anything, Georgijs! ( _softly_ ) I understand that you want to find a reason for this, but sometimes bad things just happen…

 

GEORGIJS ( _stubbornly_ ): This didn’t just happen!

 

FATHER: WHY would anyone murder her?

 

GEORGIJS ( _softly_ ): I don’t know.

 

FATHER ( _calmly, exhaustedly_ ): Georgijs, we’ll get through this together. It’ll be hard, but we can do it. But, PLEASE, don’t make this more difficult than it already is! It’s just the two of us now. We really need to stick together!

 

GEORGIJS ( _agitated_ ): Then why aren’t you believing me?!

 

_The father looks at him for a while._

 

FATHER: Ok… Yes,... Alright… I still think, you're seeing ghosts, but I’ll think about something, ok?

 

_Georgijs nods. His father puts his arm around his shoulders._

 

\---------------------

 

**THE CAFE ON THE SHIP ON THE THAMES**

 

_A waiter is collecting the family’s plates and glasses after they have finished eating. The girl is cranky. She’s whining._

 

MOM: I think she’s tired. I should take her home.

 

DAD: Yeah, and I need to get back to work… ( _To the waiter_ )  The bill, please!

 

_Suddenly the girl throws up on the table in front of her. The mother jumps up._

 

MOM: Oh, God, Gracie…

 

_The waiter rushes over with a bunch of napkins. The father starts to clean up the mess, while the mother tries to calm down the kid who’s crying loudly now._

 

\-------------------

 

**CLOSE-UP OF A TABLE WITH A HEAP OF DOCUMENTS ON IT (PASSPORTS, DRIVER'S LICENSES, CREDIT CARDS…)**

 

_A pair of hands appear in the picture and starts to sort them. In the process we see that all documents have Eryka’s picture on them but belong to different identities with different names and different nationalities. There are six different sets of documents for six different identities:_

 

Sarah Westphal - Belgium

Kristīna Hamann - Latvia

Chaya Dayan - Israel

Violetta Grigoryeva- Russia

Janine DeMarco - USA

Ani Nazaryan - Armenia

 

**Cut to the broader angle:**

**ÉLISE’S FLAT**

 

_Eryka is sitting at Élise’s kitchen table sorting her identities. She puts together six piles, one for the documents of each identity. Her suitcase is open on the floor. It’s unpacked. Piles of clothes around it on the floor. The lining of the suitcase is taken out and a second bottom plate for the suitcase is lying on Élise’s bed._

_The door in the background opens and Élise gets in. She stops in her track, when she sees Eryka. She hastily closes the door behind herself._

 

ÉLISE: What are you doing here?

 

ERYKA: You said you didn’t have time to meet me in England, so when I drove through here on my way back from London, I thought…

 

_She gets up and helplessly shrugs her shoulders._

 

ERYKA (cont’d): I just really wanted to see you...

 

_Élise’s shocked expression slowly shifts to a smile._

 

_ÉLISE: OK..._

 

_They hug and kiss each other._

 

ÉLISE ( _her arms still around Eryka’s neck_ ): It’s convenient and scary at the same time that you don’t need a key…

 

_Eryka smiles at her._

 

_ERYKA:_ Your lock is still as ridiculous as it was three years ago...

 

_Élise smiles back. She lets go of Eryka. She takes off her backpack and puts up her jacket beside the door._

 

ERYKA _(looking around in the flat,_ cont’d _):_ I didn't think I’d ever come back here when I left last time...

 

ÉLISE: ...and you really shouldn't. It's not very smart for you to come here, is it?

 

_Eryka sits down at the table again and continues her work with her documents._

 

ERYKA: We have done this for over two years now. Nothing ever indicated that someone was following or observing you.

 

ÉLISE ( _just stating an observation, not really worried_ ): We’re getting careless.

 

_She sits down at the table beside Eryka. She looks at some of the driver’s licenses. She takes up some of the passports, turning a few pages._

 

ÉLISE _(not disbelievingly but admiringly)_ : And you seriously speak all the according languages with a pronunciation that lets you pass as a native?

_  
_ ERYKA: Mostly, yes… Otherwise you can always put something in the backstory that explains a slight accent.

 

ÉLISE ( _holding up a passport, not meant as a joke_ ): I like your picture best in the Armenian one...

 

ERYKA: You shouldn’t really see this…

 

_She puts the Latvian passport into her purse and the corresponding driver’s license and credit cards into her wallet. She starts to put the other piles into a punched pocket each._

 

ÉLISE: I know that you’re dealing with stuff like this anyway...

 

_Eryka takes the Armenian passport from Élise and puts it into a punched pocket with the other Armenian documents. She gets up and takes all of the packages of identities over to her suitcase._

_She crouches down beside it and puts the punched pockets with the documents beside each other so they form a flat layer at the bottom of the suitcase. She puts the second bottom plate that has been lying on Élise’s bed over the documents, fastening it with little clips. She draws the lining over it, fixing it all around at the rim of the suitcase. She packs the piles of clothes from the floor back into the suitcase and closes it._

_She gets up and turns towards Élise who’s still sitting on the chair at the table._

 

ERYKA ( _quietly_ ): I’m thinking about quitting…

 

ÉLISE ( _surprised_ ): Ok… Why?

 

ERYKA (hesistantly): I’m not sure really...

 

ÉLISE ( _still surprised):_ What does that mean for us?

 

ERYKA: I don’t know… I don’t even know if I’m actually going to do it. It’s just a thought up to now…

 

ÉLISE: Ok...

 

_Eryka shakes her head. She walks over to Élise._

 

ERYKA: Let’s not talk about that now…

 

_She straddles Élise and puts her arms around her neck. Élise smiles at her and puts her hands on Eryka’s hips._

 

ÉLISE: Ok…

 

They start kissing.

 

\-----------------

 

**A RESIDENTIAL STREET IN LONDON**

 

_The man we saw at the cafe on the ship during lunch time with his family walks along the sidewalk, a briefcase under his arm. He walks into the small front garden of one of the houses._

 

**THE FAMILY’S LIVING ROOM**

 

_A sofa, two arm chairs, a coffee table in the middle. There are toys spread on the floor. Through a french window we see a sand box and a small plastic slide in a small garden._

_The mother we saw at the cafe at lunchtime is sitting in one of the arm chairs. The girl sideways on her lap, her head leaned against the mother, asleep._

_The front door opens. The father gets in._

 

DAD ( _from the front door, softly, to not wake the child_ ): How is she?

 

MOM ( _worriedly_ ): She threw up two more times on the way home and several times during the afternoon. She’s got diarrhoea, too. I spend the whole afternoon changing her diaper. And she’s running a fever. She seems to be getting hotter every minute.

 

DAD: I’m not really feeling too well either. I suppose I caught her bug…

 

MOM: Oh, I’m sorry, honey...

 

_The father gets into the kitchen in the background. He fills a glass with water and drinks from it. He closes his eyes and inhales deeply. Then he rushes towards a door beside the front entrance. We hear him throw up behind the door. Mom in the arm chair looks strained._

 

\---------------------

 

**ÉLISE’S FLAT, THE BED**

 

_The room only dimly lit from the city’s lights from outside. The light of the lighthouse passing through the room in a regular rhythm._

_Eryka lying on her stomach on the right side of the bed, asleep, her face turned towards the wall._

_Élise on the other side of the bed, moving slightly, waking up. She smiles slightly, when she becomes aware of Eryka beside her. She turns towards her, spooning her, puts her arm around Eryka’s waist from behind._

_Eryka stirs slowly. She takes Élise’s hand that’s lying on her stomach and draws Élise’s arm tighter around herself._

 

ÉLISE ( _mumbling_ ): Sorry, I didn’t want to wake you.

 

ERYKA ( _mumbling_ ): It's alright...

 

_Élise nestles her face into Eryka’s hair from behind. Eventually she carefully brushes Eryka’s hair aside and tenderly kisses her neck from behind._

_After some moments Eryka turns around in Élise’s arms and looks at her smilingly for a few seconds, before she places a kiss on her mouth._

 

ÉLISE: When do you have to leave?

 

ERYKA: Six… At the latest...

 

_She kisses Élise again._

 

ERYKA: You need to work early, too…

 

ÉLISE: Yes, I do… We should really get some sleep...

 

_She kisses Eryka. Eryka kisses her back, longer this time._

 

ERYKA ( _when getting her lips free after some time_ ): Yes, we definitely should…

 

_They smile at each other._

 

\------------------

 

**THE MASTER BEDROOM OF THE FAMILY WE SAW ON THE SHIP**

 

_The room is dimly lit from the father’s bedside lamp. The mother lies in bed, sleeping. The girl is lying prone in the middle of the bed. The father is not in bed, instead we hear a heaving sound from the adjoining bathroom._

_The mother wakes up. She throws a glance at the bathroom door and sighs._

_She turns around to the child and brushes the hair from her face to look at her._

 

**CLOSE UP OF THE KID’S FACE**

 

_There is a large stain of blood on the sheets under her face. Gracie is bleeding from nose and mouth_

 

**Cut to the broader angle:**

**THE BEDROOM**

 

MOM: Jesus Christ! Gracie!

 

_She sits up and kneels beside Gracie. She turns her around to her back. She is not moving or waking up. Blood all over her face._

 

MOM ( _panicking_ ): Mark! We need to call an ambulance!

 

_Mark gets out of the bathroom, looking very exhausted._

 

MARK: What’s the matter?

 

_Before the mother can answer the child starts to convulse._

 

_MOM (looking shocked at her husband):_ What is happening?

 

_The father gags again and throws up on the floor while Gracie’s seizure continues._

 

\-------------------

 

**ÉLISE’S FLAT, THE BED**

 

_Passionate but tender sexscene depicted adequately for The Tunnel’s usual air time._

_It’s safe to assume that despite the best resolutions Élise and Eryka won’t be getting much sleep this night…_

 

_\------------------_

  
**OPENING CREDITS**

TBC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!  
> PLEASE let me know what you think!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Élise is the only one who doesn't miss an important detail.  
> But she misses Eryka...

**OFFICE AT THE CALAIS POLICE STATION**

_An open space office with several desks. In the background some glass walls separating the superiors’ workplaces from the rest of the office._

_Élise walks through the office. Her backpack on her back. Her eyes half closed, tired, zombie-like._

_A man comes out of her office._

 

MAN: Je mets quelques dossiers sur ton bureau ceux qu’il faut signer. (Subtitles: I put some papers on your desk that you need to sign.)

 

ÉLISE ( _nodding distractedly_ ): Mhh…

 

_She walks over to a table with a coffee machine and fills a mug. Louise joins her also filling a mug for herself._

 

LOUISE: Qu’est-ce que tu fais ici? Tu n’avais pas prévu prendre deux jours de vacances? (Subtitles: What are you doing here? Hadn’t you planned to take two days of vacation?)

 

ÉLISE ( _exhausted, slightly annoyed_ ): Oui, mais deux Commandants d’autres départements sont malades depuis la semain dernière. Je suis leur interim officielles. Je ne peux être absent aussi. (Subtitles: Yes, but two Commanders of other departments are sick since last week. I’ve got to cover for them. I can’t get away as well.)

 

LOUISE: Tu n’avais pas déjà des plans pour tes vacances? (Subtitles: Didn’t you already have plans for your holidays?)

 

ÉLISE ( _casually_ ): J’avais prévu d'aller voir Karl en Angleterre! (Subtitles: I had planned to visit Karl in England.)

 

LOUISE: Je suis désolée! Prochaine fois… Quand on a moins de travail... (Subtitles: I’m sorry! Next time… When there’s less work…)

 

Élise nods.

 

ÉLISE: J’espère. (Subtitles: I hope so.)

 

_She blows at the coffee to cool it while she half-sleepwalks towards her office._

 

_\----------------_

 

**A STREET IN FRONT OF A SCHOOL IN A RESIDENTIAL AREA**

_Children in school uniforms entering the gate to the school yard. Hectic parents, shooing their children out of their cars._

_Karl’s car drives up, definitely too fast for a street in front of a school. Karl gets out and rushes towards the boot, taking out a backpack, while his oldest daughter gets out of the passenger seat. He hands her the backpack._

 

KARL: So, hurry up! Have a nice day!

 

_She waves to him, while she runs to the school gate._

_Karl wants to get back in the car, when the man we saw at the funeral before approaches him._

 

MAN: Karl Roebuck?

 

KARL: Yes…?

 

MAN: Mike Anderson… ( _He shakes Karl’s hand._ ) My son is in Maya’s class…

 

_Karl looks at his watch._

 

KARL: Ok...?

 

MAN: I… I wanted to ask you for a favour...

 

\-------------------

 

**ÉLISE’S OFFICE AT THE CALAIS POLICE STATION**

_The office seems empty. The desk, with a heap of files on it, is deserted. Élise’s mobile on the desk starts ringing._

_The camera slowly pans to the floor to the right of the desk. Élise drowsily sits up from having lain on the floor. Her head had been resting on her creased jacket. She looks around confused for a moment until she gets where the noise is coming from. She jumps up. When she grabs her phone it has just stopped ringing._

_Annoyed she looks at the display. Then she presses a few buttons and takes the phone to her ear while she sits down in her desk chair._

 

ÉLISE: Hi Karl!

 

KARL: Hi, why didn’t you answer before? Out to eat lunch?

 

ÉLISE: I was... resting. I didn’t sleep much last night…

 

KARL: Oh, I’m sorry…

 

ÉLISE: Well… ( _She hesitates._ ) No, need to be sorry, really… Why did you call?

 

KARL: Well, I know you have a lot on your plate right now, so if it’s a bad time you don’t have to do this, but I have been asked for a favour…

 

**ÉLISE AT HER DESK, FILMED FROM OUTSIDE OF THE GLASS WALLS OF HER OFFICE**

_The camera slowly zooms out while we see Élsie_ _eagerly listening on the phone to what Karl is telling her._

 

\--------------------

 

**A PARKING AREA NEAR THE HARBOUR AREA OF CALAIS**

_Karl’s car stops in a parking space immediately beside Élise’s car. He gets out, locks his car and gets into Élise’s car._

 

**INSIDE ÉLISE’S CAR**

KARL: Bonjour!

 

ÉLISE: Morning!

 

_Élise starts the engine and sets off._

 

KARL: Why did you decide to look into this again? I thought you had so much to do?

 

ÉLISE: I’ve been doing the fucking paperwork for three fucking departments the last two weeks… The colleagues are back now, so I’m really looking forward to finally do some actual police work again!

 

KARL: I’m not sure if this is actual police work…

 

ÉLISE: What do you think it is?

 

KARL: A kid that read too many detective stories…?

Even the father himself seemed to think all of this was pretty far fetched, but I suppose he couldn’t refuse his son who had just lost his mother...

I didn’t really expect you to take the case up again. I just thought you might take a look at the files again so we could soothe the kid...

 

ÉLISE: I did take a look at the files again…

 

KARL: And…?

 

ÉLISE: Tell me again, what the father told you...

 

KARL: Well, Georgijs is in Maya’s class. A little nerd apparently, Maya thinks he’s pretty odd. Anyway his mother died two weeks ago. She’s a French teacher at a secondary school in the neighbouring town and she was on a school trip to France when she suddenly fell ill. Diarrhea and vomiting apparently, everybody thought it was just some kind of gastric flu. Very unpleasant for a teacher on a school trip of course but nothing serious.

However her condition got worse and worse. She ended up in the hospital in Calais, went into coma and died a week later.

 

ÉLISE: According to the medical files I got, the cause of death is multiple organ failure of unknown cause. They did an autopsy hoping to find out what happened but apparently they didn’t. Her body seems to just have stopped working. She just died.

 

KARL: The little nerdy son has a thing for science apparently. It seems that just a few days before he and his father went to Calais after his mother had been hospitalised the teacher who runs the science club at Maya’s and Georgijs’ school made his students test different smartphone apps that can measure radioactivity.

Apparently Georgijs was pretty fascinated by that because he kept fiddling around with the app on his phone throughout the following days… ( _ironically_ ) I guess everybody finds a hobby eventually…

 

_Élise looks at him warily, realising that there was some kind of scorn in this comment but not really getting what’s supposed to be the problem with someone having odd interests._

 

KARL (cont’d): Georgijs’ apparently also played around with it when he visited his mother and now he keeps badgering his father about that he measured elevated levels of radiation around her. He is convinced that his mother died of radiation poisoning.

 

ÉLISE: I think he might be right…

 

KARL ( _surprised_ ): You do…?

 

ÉLISE: Yes, I do!

 

KARL: But according to the father the kid already pestered the doctors in the hospital about it, when the mother was still alive and they actually checked her body for radiation. They didn’t find anything. That doesn’t exactly make the boy’s story very plausible.

 

ÉLISE: Actually it does… I read the medical file. The nurse who registered Georgijs’ claim wrote down a little detail that the doctors checking for radiation later didn’t pay attention to… And you failed to mention it either...

 

_Karl thinks for a second._

 

KARL: The father didn’t tell me anything else…

 

ÉLISE: I thought so… He didn’t get the significance of it either… The doctors just checked her body, even though the boy claimed he detected the elevated levels of radiation at the bag where the urine from his mother’s catheter was collected…

 

KARL ( _confused_ ): How does that make the story extra-plausible?

 

_Élise parks her car in the car park of the hospital and switches off the motor._

 

ÉLISE: Details are important Karl! It’s the little things that make the difference! I read up a little…

If you ever get exposed to radiation, alpha-radiation is the kind you should hope for. It consists of comparably large particles, so it’s pretty easy to protect yourself against it. It actually can’t even penetrate a few layers of paper - or the epidermis…

 

KARL: And…?

 

ÉLISE: What can’t get in, can’t get out either. If you ingest a source of alpha-radiation, the substance would get distributed throughout the body and radioactively contaminate you from the inside but it would be undetectable outside of the body. The only thing where you could detect it would be body excretions…

Georgijs findings of radioactivity coming from the urine together with the fact that the body itself did not show elevated levels seem to be very much in accordance with a poisoning with a substance that emits alpha-radiation _._

 

 _She looks very content_ _with herself, almost cheerful, when she and Karl get out of the car. She slams her car door and determinedly starts to walk towards the hospital. Karl follows her._

 

\-----------------------

 

**A PALOUR OFFICE IN THE HOSPITAL**

_The doctor is sitting behind a desk. Karl and Élise across from him. The doctor seems to be very uncomfortable with the fact that they might have missed the correct diagnosis._

 

DOCTOR ( _slight French accent_ ): Radiation poisoning is not exactly something you deal with on a daily basis. I didn’t have anything to do with it since I learned about it in medical school as have most of my colleagues, I assume. It’s just not a diagnosis that comes to mind very easily, if it's not a patient where you have any reason to suspect that he had been in contact with radioactive material. If Ms. Anderson had worked at a nuclear power plant or in a research facility where she handled stuff like that, we might have thought of it, but with a French teacher from a small town in southern Kent...

 

ÉLISE: But Grigorijs did bring it to your mind, didn’t he?

 

DOCTOR: Yes, he did and as you see from the file we did follow it up, even though we aren't really equipped for tests like that. No ordinary hospital is. We used a Geiger counter from the radiology department they usually use to check the radiation around their X-ray units or other equipment. When we couldn’t confirm what he had claimed he had measured we just thought he got something wrong… He is just twelve… after all…

 

ÉLISE: And between the person he talked to and the person who finally checked with the Geiger counter the information that he discovered the elevated levels at the urine specifically got lost somehow…?

 

DOCTOR: Apparently… yes...

 

ÉLISE ( _ironically)_ : Well, that detail certainly didn’t seem that important coming from a boy who’s just twelve… after all… Did it…?

 

KARL ( _interrupting her to keep her from drifting into further accusations_ ): But concerning the symptoms it could actually have been radiation sickness? This would be an explanation of what happened to her?

 

DOCTOR: In the first stages the symptoms of radiation sickness are actually very unspecific. Vomiting, diarrhea, pain, fever, delayed blood clotting… Slowly all functions of the body get disrupted by the damage the radiation does to the cells. In the beginning it looks very similar to various other poisons or pathogens. Above all we checked her for contagious diseases that might be a threat to others. To exclude those was our main priority.

 

KARL: But aren’t there symptoms that are more specific? I seem to remember there’s hairloss for example…?

 

DOCTOR: Yes… But those symptoms first develop after some time. If your suspicion is true I suppose she just didn’t survive long enough for that.

 

ÉLISE: So if this was radiation poisoning it must have been very severe if it lead to her death before those more specific symptoms could even occur? She must have gotten a very high dosage?

 

DOCTOR: I suppose so, yes…

 

ÉLISE ( _matter of factly_ ): If you hadn’t missed that your and Georgijs’ findings actually don’t necessarily contradict each other… If you had diagnosed her on time, would it have been possible to save her?

 

_She and the doctor stare at each other for a few seconds._

 

DOCTOR: No, actually I don’t think so. There is really not much you can do…( _relieved to be able to give this answer)_ I’m pretty sure she would have died anyway.

 

**PARKING PLACE IN FRONT OF THE HOSPITAL**

_Karl and Élise are walking back to the car._

 

ÉLISE ( _musingly_ ): Polonium is a possibility for this. It has been used before when...

 

KARL ( _agitated, interrupting her_ ): You can’t do this Élise…!

 

ÉLISE: What?

 

KARL: You practically told him it was his fault that Inese Anderson died...

 

ÉLISE: I just asked him if it might have been his fault… I didn’t say that it definitely was. We don’t know yet if they really missed the right diagnosis. Up to now it's just a possibility.

 

KARL: But couldn’t you have put the question a little more… I don’t know...

 

_Élise stops and turns to Karl to talk to him._

 

ÉLISE: Karl, I get by now - for obvious reasons - that there can be the necessity to plainly lie if there is something you actually need to keep from other people.

But I don’t get why I have to sugarcoat the fact that they might have made a mistake and that that mistake might have killed her, when that’s how it is!

 

_She starts to continue to walk to the car._

 

ÉLISE (cont’d): How do you people communicate, when you never say how things really are?!

 

_They get to the car. Élise unlocks her door._

 

KARL: Even if you don’t care if he might feel guilty enough himself already, you could at least be scheming enough to not piss him off. We need him to help us with information after all!

 

_Élise just frowns at that. She gets into the car. She leans over to the passenger’s door and draws up the pin to unlock the door for Karl. He gets in as well._

 

 **INSIDE OF THE CAR**  

KARL (cont’d): And he is probably right, you know. You can’t really blame them for not coming up with the idea of radiation poisoning right away.

When Alexander Litvinenko died in London in 2006 it was known that he had quarrels with the Russian secret service and that they had threatened him. He was a pretty obvious target and apparently it still took them weeks to figure out what had happened to him.

 

_Élise starts the car and starts driving._

 

ÉLISE ( _musingly_ ): Yeah, maybe… Inese Anderson probably at most had quarrels with students who couldn’t pronounce the accent aigu properly…

 

KARL ( _deadpanning_ ): I can imagine how that could make someone want to murder her but I suppose students with thoughts like that are restrained to other methods than poisoning her with polonium or something due to their obvious lack of possibilities to obtain stuff like that…

 

_Élise smiles at him sideways._

 

ÉLISE: We need to find out if there is something we don’t know about her that might explain why someone who does have possibilities to obtain stuff like that would want her dead.

 

_Karl nods agreeingly. He takes a package of Mini Smarties out of the pocket of his jacket. He pours some into his hand and puts all of them into his mouth at once._

 

KARL ( _holding up the package to Élise_ ): Want some?

 

_Élise nods. Karl pours some into her hand and puts the package back into his pocket._

 

KARL ( _pointing his head at the Smarties in her hand, teasingly_ ): See, you’d never allow normal chocolate to be eaten in your fancy car, would you? But sugarcoated it really gets much easier to handle… ( _more seriously_ ) Most things do, Élise… Honestly...

 

_Élise looks at Karl frowningly, while she slowly eats one Smartie after the other from her hand._

 

 

_\----------------------_

**CORRIDOR IN A HOSPITAL**

_There are doors at both sides of the corridor leading to the patients' rooms. Along the wall to the left there are some chairs lined up for visitors who are waiting._

_Gracie’s Mom is sitting on a chair. An older woman (her mother) beside her. The older woman is clutching Gracie’s Mom’s hand comfortingly. Both women look strained. Their eyes red from crying. Otherwise the corridor is almost deserted since there are not many people left in the hospital in the evening. The shutters at the glass walls on the right side of the corridor are half-closed so you can’t look into the room. Gracie’s Mom gets up and walks over to the glass wall. She looks through the small gaps between the shutters._

 

Cut to:

 **VIEW INTO THE HOSPITAL ROOM THROUGH THE SHUTTERS**

_Mark is in the bed, attached to a lot of monitors and infusions. A woman is sitting on a chair beside the bed an scribbling eagerly on a notepad. A man is standing at the foot of the bed talking to Mark. They are both dressed very professionally. Their postures leave no doubt that they are the ones in charge here, no matter who might be the head of this hospital otherwise. Another man dressed in white, a doctor apparently, is examining Mark._

_The man at the foot of the bed seems to feel Gracie’s Mom’s eyes resting on him. He looks up and over to her. With an expressionless face he walks over to the window and closes the shutters, so she can’t look in anymore._

 

Cut back to:

**THE CORRIDOR**

_Gracie’s Mom is standing in front of the now closed shutters. The door of Mike’s hospital room opens and the doctor comes out. He tries to hurry away, but Gracie’s Mom stops him._

GRACIE’S MOM ( _agitatedly_ ): Who are those people? They have been in there for hours now!

DOCTOR ( _squirmingly_ ): Um… colleagues of your husband apparently...

GRACIE’S MOM: He is in no condition to be questioned for this long! Don’t you as his doctor have to stop this?

DOCTOR: I tried… but I… I have been informed that I have no authority to interfere here…

GRACIE’S MOM ( _suspiciously_ ): Do they know what’s the matter with him?

DOCTOR : Well,... _(He breaks off.)_

GRACIE’S MOM: You said this morning that his condition is improving, right? He will recover from this, won’t he?!

DOCTOR ( _helplessly_ ): I… um… _(He squirms.)_ I’m not sure… _(After a pause)_ Look… I’m not in the position to decide what I’m allowed to tell you. They said they wanted to ask you some questions later. Maybe they will inform you then, but I can’t… _(He shakes his head.)_ I’m sorry…

_He walks away hastily. Gracie’s Mom looks after him helplessly. Her mother gets up and joins her. She puts the arm around her comfortingly._

 

_\--------------------_

 

**ÉLISE’S FLAT, EVENING**

 

_Élise is standing at the window of her living room looking out over the harbour. It’s dawning. She's talking on the phone._

  
ÉLISE ( _on the phone_ ): I talked to the pathologist. She told me the same thing they said in the hospital. They don’t check routinely for radioactive material, if there isn’t anything that suggests that the person in question could have had contact with stuff like that.

The medical records from the hospital she looked through before the autopsy contained almost a hundred pages. Two lines of those mentioned Georgijs’ hint about the radioactive urine… She just overread it..

Once I brought up the possibility she confirmed though that the physiological symptoms as well as the laboratory findings are totally consistent with radiation poisoning by alpha radiation and she supported my requested to exhume the body and have a second autopsy. After all this might be a possibility to find an explanation for an up to now unexplained death.

 

KARL ( _through the phone_ ): Ok… So I’ll see you at the Anderson’s house tomorrow then…?

 

ÉLISE: Yes, see you tomorrow!

 

 _She ends the call and keeps looking out of the window musingly for a moment, her phone still in her hand ._ _After a while she turns around, looking at her empty flat for moment. She slowly walks over to her bed, sitting down on it. She takes her phone up again._

 

 **CLOSE-UP OF THE DISPLAY OF ÉLISE’S PHONE**  

_Élise’s thump chooses the photo app. She slowly swipes through some snapshots of Eryka smiling at the camera._

 

**SHOULDER CLOSE-UP OF ÉLISE LOOKING AT HER PHONE**

_Élise smiles and looks at the pictures for a few moments. Finally her face gets serious again._

 

**CLOSE-UP OF THE DISPLAY OF ÉLISE’S PHONE**

_Élise’s thump marks all the pictures of Eryka and taps the bin. The question “Voulez-vous vraiment supprimer ces éléments?” comes up. Élise’s thumb chooses “Oui”. The pictures disappear. There are not supposed to be any traces of their encounters on her phone._

 

Cut back to the broader angle:

 **ÉLISE’S FLAT, HER BED**  

_Élise puts the phone into the pocket of her jeans and starts to go through a pile of books on her night stand. One is still in a plastic bag with the label of Akademibokhandeln on it. She takes the book out of the bag. It’s Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. A slip of paper falls out of the bag to the floor. She takes it up and puts it into the book to use as a bookmark._

_She leans back against the wall behind her bed, drawing her legs up and starts reading._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am aware that smartphone apps that measure radioactivity can hardly detect alpha radiation. But for the purpose of this story I decided to invoke literary license here…
> 
> Thanks for reading! Please let me know, what you think!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I spent the last two days staring at various news homepages like the rabbit caught in the headlight. It felt highly inappropriate to occupy myself with such ridiculous stuff as fanfiction considering what’s happening.  
> But surprisingly enough the earth continues to spin and on day three after election day I decided that we all could probably use 4000 words of escape from reality.  
> And maybe to write and spread stuff like this is also one small way to show all the homophobes and sexists out there the finger!
> 
> Anyhow... Chapter 3… Here you go!
> 
>  
> 
> ATTENTION: I added a new scene in chapter 2. If you read chapter 2 before the 11th of November, I suggest that you read it again from the third from last ------------.

**A RESIDENTIAL STREET IN A SMALL TOWN IN KENT, MORNING**

 

_Élise and Karl walk through the front garden of a small detached house. Karl’s car can be seen parked at the street. Some of the last flowers of the season are still in bloom, but most of them have already started to wither._

 

_Élise’s phone starts ringing. She answers it._

 

ÉLISE: Yes…? Good… Yes… When can we expect first results…? Ok…

 

_She lowers the hand with the phone to end the call. Then she remembers something and takes it up to her ear again._

 

ÉLISE (cont’d): Um… Thanks...

 

_She ends the call._

 

ÉLISE (cont’d): My request to exhume the body has been approved. Tomorrow we’ll know for sure, if our theory is right.

 

_Karl nods approvingly. Élise rings the doorbell._

 

**THE FAMILY'S LIVING ROOM**

 

_The room isn’t furnished very fashionable but cosy. A lot of books in a large bookshelf in the background. A piano in the corner._

_Mike Anderson is sitting in an arm chair at the coffee table. Across from him on the sofa Élise and Karl. Mike looks strained and overwhelmed by what he has just heard._

 

MIKE: I believed him in the beginning. He had told me so much about how this app worked and how you had to distinguish values that are actually elevated from the normal background radiation. I was confident he really knew what he was doing. But when the hospital informed me that they had checked for radiation and didn’t find anything, I of course thought that rather he than the doctors had measured wrong.

 

KARL: No one realised before that none of them needed to have made a mistake but that it’s exactly the discrepancy in the measurements which is so telling about this.

 

MIKE: But why…? Why would anyone want to murder her? And... In that way…? Could it just have been an accident?

 

ÉLISE: We don't know. All of this is still just a possibility. We still need it confirmed by the the second autopsy, and there’s still a lot we need to get information on ourselves, but I think we can rule out that she ingested it accidentally. Substances like that are highly controlled. They don’t just somehow end up in someone's food…

 

KARL: For the same reason there is also just a very limited number of possibilities of who might be behind this, because obviously very few people have access to that kind of material. Terrorists, I assume, secret services, maybe some very few, very well equipped groups within organised crime…

Do you have any idea if anyone from those circles might have a grudge against you wife? Did she have any connection to people like that?

 

MIKE: No, of course not!

 

ÉLISE: Maybe you didn’t know?

 

MIKE ( _agitatedly_ ): I knew everything about her! We were married for 10 years! We knew each other for 17! It’s impossible that she kept it from me that she had… anything to do with people like that!

 

KARL: I’m sorry but we have to ask these questions.

 

MIKE ( _calmer_ ): I know, I know...

 

KARL: How did you meet her?

 

MIKE: I spend a year of my economy studies in Lyon. She was from Latvia, studying to become a French teacher and spent a year as a teaching assistant there. I attended a French course specialising in business language and we just crossed paths somehow in the language department of the university. We had coffee together and that was the start of it…

 

**SHOULDER CLOSE-UP OF ÉLISE**

 

_She looks over to the piano._

 

**FRAMED PHOTOGRAPHS ON THE PIANO IN THE CORNER (ÉLISE’S POV)**

 

_A picture of the younger Inese and Mike probably from the time they met. A picture of them with Georgijs as a baby. Some pictures of Georgijs throughout his childhood._

 

MIKE (cont’d, _voiceover_ ): She then decided to come with me to the UK and finish her studies here. I got a job in a logistics company here in Kent that does a lot of business with France and she started to work as a teacher. Georgijs was born. We got married. …

We’re as normal and boring as it can get.

 

Cut back to:

**KARL, ÉLISE AND MIKE SITTING TOGETHER IN THE LIVINGROOM**

 

MIKE (cont’d): She never had contact with any of those groups you suggest!

 

_Élise and Karl look at each other._

 

ÉLISE: Is there anyone else who was close to her, who might be able to give us more information?

 

MIKE: She was close friends with some of her colleagues at school. But I doubt that they know anything I don’t.

 

KARL: You need to give us their names, so we can check with them.

 

_Mike nods._

 

KARL (cont’d): What about her family? Do they still live in Latvia?

 

MIKE: Yes. Her father died a couple of years ago. We are visiting her mother and brother occasionally. Georgijs meets his cousins. _(He seems to remember something._ ) She spoke Latvian with him, so he’d grow up with her native language as well. I will not even be able to keep that alive. I hardly know Hello, Goodbye and Cheers!

 

_He stops talking, just having found another aspect where he’d never be able to replace her for his son._

 

KARL: I’m sorry...

 

_Élise looks awkwardly from one man to the other. Then she apparently decides that the considerate break was long enough._

 

ÉLISE: Did anything unusual happen in the days before she left for France? Did she seem different in anyway? Unsettled?

 

_Mike shakes his head._

 

MIKE: It was the usual turmoil before a school trip. Many things to sort out in the last minute… But nothing that seemed out of the ordinary.

 

KARL: Ok...

 

ÉLISE: Is there anything else you can think of that might be of any importance?

 

_Mike thinks for a moment._

 

MIKE: Well, when we went to Calais after they had informed us that Inese had fallen ill, we stayed there for a night. When we came back the neighbour told us, she had almost called the police that night because she thought she had seen the lights of a flashlight through the window of Inese’s study.

She just saw it for a second so she didn’t ring the police after all. Nothing was missing and there were no signs of a break-in, so I suppose it was nothing and it was just the reflection of a streetlamp or something…

 

_Élise takes a few notes in her notebook. She looks up again._

 

ÉLISE: We would like to talk to your son as well… Since he’s the one who discovered the radioactivity.

 

A little later:

**THE FAMILY'S LIVING ROOM**

 

_Georgijs has joined his father, Karl and Élise._

 

GEORGIJS: I was just bored… _(He looks conscience-stricken at his father.)_ I know it was probably inappropriate, considering that Mom was… dying… But I sat alone in her room for so long, while Dad was talking to the doctors...

Almost all materials emit some radiation, you know. Some more, some less. Since I got this app I check all the stuff around me.

The substances you usually encounter, even the ones which emit comparably much radioactivity, don’t have levels that are really dangerous.

But most people don’t know that. When I showed some girls from my class that the bricks our school is built of emit radiation, my whole class got mental, even though it was still totally below any critical levels...

 

_He grins slightly with the memory of the mayhem he caused. His father doesn’t seem to know if he should be embarrassed that his son has fun scaring his classmates like that or if he should be proud that Georgijs knows so much about this._

 

KARL _(mumbling)_ : Yeah… Maya was delighted…

 

ÉLISE: So you just checked some random things in your mother’s room?

 

GEORGIJS: Yes… There was nothing that stuck out in any way. Until I got to the urine bag. It were the highest levels I had ever measured, even higher than the samples we got shown on the school trip to that research institute. At first I thought the app was broken. But it returned to normal levels when I moved it away from the bag but rose again as soon as I put it close to it again. So I WAS sure it wasn’t a mistake, but no one believed me… _(After a pause, quietly:)_ If I had been more persistent… and they would have found out what had happened to her... would she still be alive today?

 

KARL ( _softly_ ): Not according to what the doctor told us... There seems to be hardly any treatment for cases like that. Even if you would have tried harder to make them believe you, it wouldn't have made much of a difference.

 

ÉLISE: But now it does make a difference actually! Without you this investigation would probably never have happened. We still have no idea who is be behind this but it's entirely possible that they have further murders planned. And thanks to you we now might be able to prevent that. It was a very important discovery you made and very significant that you insisted that your father should go to the police!

 

_Karl throws a surprised look at her._

 

**THE ANDERSON’S FRONT GARDEN AND STREET IN FRONT OF THE HOUSE**

 

_Karl and Élise walk towards Karl’s car that’s parked at the street._

 

KARL: You actually said comforting things to the boy!

 

ÉLISE ( _surprised_ ): Did I? _(She thinks about it and discovers that she actually did.)_ Well, I just told him the facts as they are, which in this case apparently happened to be comforting...

 

_They get to the car. While they get in:_

 

KARL: Well, it's a start...

 

\--------------------

 

The next morning:

**AN EXAMINATION ROOM OF THE PATHOLOGY IN KENT**

 

_Élise, Karl and the pathologist are standing around the examination table. Élise holds her scarf and Karl his pullover sleeve in front their mouths and noses. We don’t get a clear view of the body on the table but considering the time that has gone it must already have severely started to decompose._

 

PATHOLOGIST: Considering the information in the medical file I got and based on what I found now at the autopsy, I’m almost certain that she died of radiation poisoning caused by ingestion of a substance that emits alpha radiation. I can’t tell you, what substance we’re dealing with here exactly and our labs really aren’t equipped to give us the answer to that either, but the only known case like this is of course Alexander Litvinenko who was poisoned with polonium by the Russian secret service allegedly. So my money's on that.

 

ÉLISE: Do we have a possibility to find out for sure?

 

PATHOLOGIST: Polonium has a comparably short half-life period so some of the concentration might already be gone by now. It decays to a stable lead isotope though, so if there’s not much left of the polonium itself at least the lead should still be traceable. There are labs who are specialised in stuff like that. I can send a sample there.

 

ÉLISE: Yes, please.

 

_She gasps because of the smell. The pathologist seems unimpressed._

 

KARL: How exactly do you get hold of stuff like that? Where does it come from? I’m pretty sure you can’t just buy it on eBay?

 

PATHOLOGIST: It’s produced in very small amounts in research reactors. The stuff that poisoned Litvinenko was produced by the Russians themselves. It could be traced back to a reactor in Russia based on its composition. It’s not freely available for purchase, that’s for sure. I have no idea if there is an illegal black market where others could get it and what the prices would be like there.

 

ÉLISE: Aside from the immediate victim… Is there any danger to other people from this? Does the body emit radiation? _(Karl takes a step back from the examination table instinctively.)_ Could there still be residue of the poison out there somewhere that could contaminate people in some way?

 

PATHOLOGIST: Alpha radiation has a very limited range. Even in air it just travels a few centimeter and it can hardly penetrate the skin. So, no, you can’t be harmed by radiation by just being near an alpha emitter or anyone or anything that is contaminated with it.

That’s why this stuff is comparably easy to transport and even to carry through airports and over borders: You don’t even need to put it in a special lead container or something. Plastic or glass is totally enough to block the radiation.

However if you ingest it it will distribute through your body with the blood stream and even though it just has a range of a few millimeters in tissue it will reach all of your cells.

The problem is that it's not very easy to handle. It gets everywhere if you aren't extremely careful. The movements of Litvinenko’s killers could be traced even weeks later, because just small traces on your fingers and clothes are enough to be transferred to everything you touch or sit on.

So also from Inese Anderson’s murder there might still be traces of polonium out there, that might accidentally get into someone's food or might be swirled up again so someone inhales it.

 

KARL: Could Inese Anderson have been a victim of such a secondary transfer after all?

 

PATHOLOGIST: I don’t think so.

Radiation poisoning has a very specific timeline. The alpha particles emitted by the source hit the DNA in your cells so that they stop working. The immediate effect of that starts between few minutes up to two or three days after the exposure depending on the dosage.

If the exposure has been comparably low, enough of your cells survive and still work so that you actually seem to recover after a few days. This phase has the creepy, but very fitting name Walking-Ghost-Phase, because even though you almost feel normal again your stem cells have already been damaged irretrievably since they are more sensitive to radioactivity than already differentiated cells.

In a healthy body all cells die after a certain time and are replaced by new cells produced by the stem cells. If your stem cells don’t work anymore the cells that die don’t get replaced and there are less and less cells still working in your body. Once there are too few left to do the job your condition deteriorates rapidly until you die.

Just micrograms, some small dust particles might be enough to severely harm or even kill you in the end, but Inese Anderson’s already died in the first phase, which points to that she got a very high and so probably intentional dosage.

 

ÉLISE: And even if you know what you're dealing with there is no treatment?

 

PATHOLOGIST: No, there is the possibility of bone marrow transplant to replace the stem cells. But that’s just a possibility, I don’t even know if that actually has been tried out at anytime. Cases of radiation poisoning are - lucky enough - obviously very rare. So there is no such thing as a standard treatment.

 

ÉLISE: Ok… _(She looks at Karl.)_ Any more questions?

 

_Karl shakes his head._

 

KARL: Thanks for all the information. That was very helpful.

 

PATHOLOGIST: One last thing: The labs I’m going to send the samples to are all military facilities or at least work together with them very closely. If we ask them to verify a possible poisoning with radioactive material a thousand warning bells will go off. I suppose there are other authorities who are going to be very interested in this case as well...

 

**A STREET WITH ÉLISE’S CAR PARKED AT THE SIDE**

 

_It’s hazy and drizzling. Élise and Karl walk hastily on the sidewalk towards Élise’s car. Karl has the hood of his jacket drawn over his head. Élise’s clothes are less suitable for the weather. She just drew up her scarf as high as possible and put her hands in the pockets of her jacket._

 

ÉLISE: I don’t like their way to do things and to intermingle with our work either, but you heard her: They will find out about this anyway.

 

KARL: I would like to savour the time until they do...

 

_They get to the car and hurry to get in._

 

**INSIDE ÉLISE’S CAR**

 

ÉLISE: Look... I am the highest ranked officer on this case right now so I’m the one bearing the responsibility and I really don’t feel that we… We don’t exactly have much insight into the circles that probably lay behind this. We’re wasting time, because we’re pretty much poking around in the dark here. We could be much more effective if we include the secret service.

 

_She starts the car. The windscreen wiper starts to do their work when she drives off._

 

KARL ( _annoyedly_ ): I don’t think we’d really get anything useful from them. We’d just know all the time that they do sit on relevant information but aren’t sharing them with us…

 

ÉLISE ( _annoyedly)_ : Ok... So do you want to decide to what extend the public should be informed about this, for example? The mere mentioning of radioactivity will cause everyone with just a hint of nausea to get hysteric because they think they are suffering from radiation sickness. On the other hand it seems pretty irresponsible to not at least inform doctors and hospitals what they might be dealing with when they get a patient with the according symptoms.

Even after having googled myself through half of Wikipedia and a ton of newspaper articles on the murder of Litvinenko I still don’t exactly feel qualified to make that decision. I want someone on board who knows how to handle stuff like this!

 

KARL _(calmer, slowly seeing the problems as well)_ : Ok... So… What do you want to do?

 

ÉLISE: I’ll call Olivier… If we’ve already got the appropriate French authorities on board, the MI6 will hopefully find no reasons to snatch the case from us completely...

 

**AN OFFICE IN THE POLICE STATION IN KENT**

 

_A few desks with monitors. Some shelfs with folders in the background. BB and Louise are sitting at a desk together. The door opens and Karl and Élise get in. Karl has his jacket in hand and shakes the rain of it before he hangs it over a chair. Élise takes off her jacket and puts it over the back of her chair as well. She tries to sort her wet hair with limited success._

 

Karl _(to Louise and BB)_ : Morning!

 

Louise: Hello!

 

_Élise and Karl sit down with Louise and BB._

 

A little later:

**STILL THE OFFICE IN THE POLICE STATION IN KENT**

 

ÉLISE: Since the poisoning supposedly happened in France and she also died in Calais, it’s a French investigation for now with Louise and me assigned to the case. We’ll cooperate with you _(She nods towards Karl and BB.)_ since we’ll obviously have to do a lot of background research here in England.

 

BB: Louise and I talked to Inese Anderson’s colleagues her husband said she was close to this morning. They couldn’t tell us anything else than what her husband already told you: No one can believe that she had anything shady going on.

We also talked to her colleagues who she did the school trip to Paris with. We made a list of all the places they ate at or bought food or drinks from on the day and the day before she went sick.

 

LOUISE: Since in the beginning the doctors in Calais suspected that she had caught an aggressive and possibly previously unknown infectious disease, all students and teachers who were on the trip with her kept their eyes open for similar symptoms during the days after she fell ill. No one else got sick. So this seemed to have been aimed specifically at her.

 

KARL: It might still have been a mistake, though. Maybe someone else was the target and she got the wrong food at a restaurant or something…?

 

ÉLISE: That’s possible…

 

_She takes the list Louise and BB made of all the places Inese Anderson got food or drinks from and looks over it._

 

ÉLISE (cont’d): According to the pathologist she must have gotten a very high dosage, considering how rapidly her condition worsened which also means that the symptoms must have started very soon after she got poisoned.

 

LOUISE: What is “soon” in this case?

 

ÉLISE: A few hours at most apparently. _(She looks at the list.)_ They had breakfast at 7:30 in the hotel in Paris. They stopped twice at a motorway station on the way from Paris to Calais.

 

BB: Yes, one of her colleagues was sure she bought a coffee at the second stop. No one knew if she also ate or drank something at the first.

 

ÉLISE: She fell ill in the early afternoon and started to have short periods of unconsciousness shortly thereafter. They called an ambulance at about 4:30 pm, while they were waiting to board the ferry in Calais.

The drive from Paris to Calais takes about three hours, with a coach maybe four. They left Paris at 9 in the morning. Why were they still in Calais at 4:30?

 

LOUISE: There was an accident on the A26 that made them sit in traffic for over two hours. When they got to Calais the ferry they had been booked to initially was gone so they had to wait until they could board a later one.

 

ÉLISE: We need to do background checks on Inese Anderson here in the UK as well as in Latvia. We need to check the hotel and the two motorway stations they stopped at. We need to find out if there is surveillance and if the footage is still available. We need a list of the other guests at the hotel and of the credit cards that were used at the motorway stations around the time their coach stopped there. Aside from a possible suspect we might also find out if there is someone among the other guests and customers who might be the originally intended target in case Inese Anderson was just poisoned by mistake.

 

_The others nod agreeingly._

 

BB: So... I assume you girls will make the calls to France. _(To Karl, teasingly)_ How’s you Latvian…?

 

KARL: Well… I assume your Polish doesn’t help you there either so that that would be a reason to make you phone them?

 

BB: No...

 

ÉLISE: Karl, outside of Britain people actually do learn languages… You will be able to get someone on the phone who understands you.

 

KARL: Ok, _(to BB)_ you do the checks in the UK, I’ll call the colleagues in Riga…

 

_BB nods. He and Louise get up. BB becomes aware of the Harry Potter book that’s lying on Élise’s desk._

 

BB _(pointing at the book)_ : Oh, I didn’t think you’d read children's books…

 

ÉLISE: There’s a lot more to it than it just being a children’s book…

 

BB: There is! But I didn’t think you’d deign to read it in the first place to give yourself the chance to realise that…

 

ÉLISE: Well, someone told me to…

 

_She takes the book and puts it into her backpack, while BB walks over to another desk and sits down at it to start his background check._

 

LOUISE _(to Élise, apologising_ ): Well, he isn’t very good at this, but I think that actually was meant as an acknowledgment that you’ve become more open-minded...

 

ÉLISE ( _surprised_ ): Have I?

 

LOUISE _(surprised that she didn’t know)_ : Yes!

 

_Élise frowns. Louise follows BB and sits down at the desk opposite of him. When they are out of hearing range:_

 

KARL: You know he might still be bickering at you, but he realises that you always send Louise when there’s a cooperation necessary so she can work in England for some time and that you always ask for him, when one of us is needed in France.

He very much appreciates that. After three years they’re pretty fed up with spending more time in the Tunnel or on the ferry than actually together.

 

ÉLISE: Well, I do what I can…

 

KARL ( _smilingly, teasingly_ ): There’s nothing like a boss who has a first-hand understanding of your personal situation...

 

ÉLISE: Well, I see Eryka about once a month traveling through half of Europe for that... _(She points her head over at Louise and BB.)_ They really shouldn’t complain!

 

_Élise starts to sort some papers on the desk. Karl observes her thoughtfully._

 

KARL: I always felt it suited you quite well to have your life to yourself and just meet her from time to time…? I was under the impression you were pretty happy with that...?

 

ÉLISE I was! And I still am, I think… _(She fades out.)_

 

KARL: But…?

 

ÉLISE: I don’t know… In the beginning I even found our secret meetings kind of exciting in a way... But by now it’s just annoying!

 

_Karl smiles slightly, surprised by this acknowledgement. This is a side of Élise he rarely gets to see._

 

KARL: How does she feel about it?

 

ÉLISE: I’m not sure. Similar... I think.

 

KARL ( _teasingly_ ): So, you want to make use of the recent changes in the marriage legislations, find a sperm donor, buy a house and put a swing set in the garden?

 

ÉLISE _(seriously)_ : Karl, I’ve been around you long enough by now. I get when you are teasing me… _(softly)_ I just like to see her more often and I’m so fed up with playing hide and seek!

 

KARL: Is there a chance for things to change?

 

ÉLISE ( _hopefully_ ): Maybe… It almost sounded that way last time we met. ( _Pause_ ) We’ll see… _(back to business)_ Now go and find the phone number of the police headquarter in Riga!

 

_Karl nods and moves to the next desk to start his work._

 

 

_\-------------------------_

 

**KARL’S HOUSE, THE LIVING ROOM, EVENING**

Karl and Laura are sitting in front of the TV, watching TV together.

 

Cut to:

**THE TV SCREEN**

 

_ A man in his early forties is being interviewed, he speaks a fluent and largely correct English but with a distinct Russian accent. _

_ Displayed on the screen:  Sergei Selepov, Chairman of Latvia's Russian Minority Party _

 

SELOPOV: We would like to reach a situation like the Swedish language minority in Finland or the Germans is Southern Denmark for example. That’s something that is actually required by the European union. Since Latvia is a member of the European Union they hardly have any alternative than to grant us these rights.

 

REPORTER: Why do you think this is still such a problem then?

 

SELOPOV: Well, I think many Latvians fear that our presence here might lead to a situation like we see it in the Ukraine right now. Which is not at all what we want. The vast majority of Russian speakers is loyal to the Latvian state. But that might change of course if they feel that they’re treated as second class citizens.

I suppose on the long run it is a much bigger contribution to Latvia’s security if the Russian minority feels accepted an appreciated and is graded the rights it deserves than to call for more and more foreign military in the country.

 

VOICEOVER: But that’s exactly what Latvia did. Since the beginning of the year the troop strength of the Euroforce in Latvia and the other baltic countries has increased once again.

 

Cut to

**A GUY IN A CAMOUFLAGED UNIFORM**

_ There are some patches on his uniform displaying his rank and one patch with a German and one with a European flag. _

_ He speaks English with a German accent. He speaks fluently but seems a little unpractised. _

_ On the screen his name and position in displayed: _

_ Tobias Gantmann, Assistant Commander of the Euroforce in Latvia _

 

GANTMANN: The Euroforce coordinates all military forces in the European Union and it is certainly much more effective and powerful than 27 separate armies could ever have been. Since it was formed almost two years ago it’s main focus had clearly been the baltics and other Eastern European countries.

 

REPORTER: Russia has been protesting for years against the stationing of NATO troops close to its borders. There was an even clearer condemnation of the founding of the Euroforce and against the fact that many of its troops are stationed in countries now that have common borders with Russia. Do you have any comment on that?

 

GANTMANN: It’s the Eastern European countries who have asked for an increase of defence in their countries, because they feel that there might be a need for that. The Russians might need to ask themselves why these countries feel that way...

 

Cut back to:

**KARL’S LIVING ROOM**

_ Karl and Laura watching TV together. _

_ The babyphone on the table starts crying. Karl sighs and gets up. _


	4. Chapter 4

**A KING SIZED BED**

 

_Élise and Eryka are sitting side by side,  leaned against the headboard, the duvet rolled up in their backs._

_Élise is holding a book, that she has let sink down, a finger between the pages. She has apparently been reading before they started talking._

 

ÉLISE: I don’t even remember when exactly I got it… It wasn’t a shock or a revelation or anything. I suppose my way of relating to other people has always been so different in so many ways, that I had always felt completely out of place anyway. The realisation that at times I felt attracted to what would be considered the “wrong” gender really didn’t add much to that anymore.

_(She looks at Eryka.)_

...you?

 

ERYKA: Oh, I remember exactly when I first got a crush on a girl but it took me a lot of time until I got that that's what it was.

We were so isolated from everything that I had never even heard about homosexuality. After I realised what was going on with me I thought I was the only one in the world. It was years later that I became aware that there were others as well and that there's even a word for it.

 

_A mobile phone beeps. Eryka reaches for her phone on the nightstand. She presses a few buttons. Élise looks down at the display with her._

  


**CLOSE-UP OF THE PHONE’S DISPLAY**

 

_A text message written in Hebrew letters._

  


Cut back to the broader angle:

**ÉLISE AND ERYKA ON THE BED**

 

ÉLISE: What’s that about?

 

ERYKA: Nah… The Mossad has complains…

 

_She throws the phone disinterestedly back onto the nightstand. It remains unclear whether her remark was a joke or not._

 

_She turns around to Élise and starts kissing her. They slowly slide down to lie on the bed. Eryka’s hand finds its way under the rim of Élise’s shirt. There’s a knock on the door. Élise and Eryka don’t seem to hear it._

_A knock again. The picture starts to get brighter and blurry._

  


The picture is fading over to:

**SHOULDER CLOSE-UP OF ÉLISE**

 

_She’s staring into space. We hear the knock again. She looks up, startled._

 

Cut to the broader angle:

**ÉLISE’S OFFICE**

 

_Élise is sitting at her desk. Karl still wearing his jacket is standing in the door knocking at the open door._

 

KARL: Bon jour!

 

ÉLISE: Erm… Bon jour…

 

KARL: What are you doing?

 

ÉLISE: Working…

 

KARL: OK…

  
ÉLISE _(getting up, changing the topic)_ : You want to go grab a coffee…?

 

**CORRIDOR AT THE POLICE STATION IN CALAIS**

 

_Karl and Élise walk along the corridor._

 

KARL: Her father was involved in the Latvian independence movement at the beginning of the nineties. She was in her early teens at that time, but since it is a definite possibility that the trail to her murderer leads to Russia I wondered if she might have been involved in any confrontation with Russia later on as well. Up to now I didn’t find anything that indicates that.

 

_Karl looks up, having spotted someone ahead of them._

 

KARL: Well, look at that...

 

**THE CORRIDOR SEEN FROM THE OTHER DIRECTION, ÉLISE’S AND KARL’S POV**

 

_Olivier and the man and the woman we saw in Mark’s hospital room two days ago come walking towards Karl and Élise._

 

OLIVIER: Hello…

 

_He seems to be aware that the presence of the other two must be unexpected for Élise and Karl and that they are not necessarily going to be thrilled about it. He turns around to them._

 

OLIVIER (cont’d): These are John Miller and Anna Bērziņa… from... um… associated agencies...

 

_Karl and Élise exchange a short glance. They shake hands with the other two._

MILLER: Hello...

 

BĒRZIŅA: Nice to meet you...

 

_John Miller speaks English with a British accent. Anna Bērziņa speaks a fluent and effortless English but with a clearly detectable but unfamiliar and unrecognisable accent. Karl eyes them up knowingly._

 

KARL _(ironically)_ : Associated agencies…? That’s very… specific... _(seemingly jokingly, to Élise)_ I thought you just wanted to call in the French DGSI…? I wasn’t aware that you informed half of the secret services of Europe…?

 

ÉLISE: I didn’t…

 

_Olivier inhales to say something but John Miller interrupts him._

 

MILLER: We realised that we all have a common interest here apparently…

 

BĒRZIŅA: Commander Wassermann, is there someplace where we can talk confidentially? We should exchange some information...

 

_It’s pretty obvious who is going to take the lead here and despite this being France it won’t be Olivier or Élise..._

 

**ÉLISE’S OFFICE AT THE CALAIS POLICE STATION**

 

_Élise, Karl, Olivier, Miller and Bērziņa are sitting in Élise’s office. Élise and Karl each have a file in hand and are looking at the information in it._

 

BĒRZIŅA: During the last year four people throughout Europe have died of radiation poisoning caused by ingestion of polonium.

 

**SHOULDER CLOSE-UP OF ÉLISE**

 

_She looks into the file._

 

**CLOSE-UP OF A PAGE IN THE FILE**

 

_We see a list of the victims._

 

                    Poisoned        Died

Andreas Köster    St. Petersburg        05/08/17        24/08/17   

Konstantin Kurpatov    Stockholm        27/01/18        19/02/18

Inese Anderson    Calais            11/09/18        20/09/18

(Grace Harris        London        27/09/18        28/09/18)       

Mark Harris        London        27/09/18   

 

Cut back to the broader angle:

**ÉLISE’S OFFICE**

 

BĒRZIŅA (cont’d): Konstantin Kurpatov was diagnosed in Stockholm pretty soon after he fell ill. He was in a situation where it was - let’s say - not completely unexpected that he could become a target for an assassination attempt, so when he got ill the Swedes made the connection and recognised the symptoms and had him tested for polonium. There wasn’t much they could do for him anyway.

 

**SHOULDER CLOSE-UP OF KARL**

 

_He turns a page in the file._

 

**CLOSE-UP OF A PAGE IN THE FILE**

 

_At the top of the page there’s Konstantin Kurpatov’s name and a picture of a grey haired man of about 50 years._

 

Cut back to the broader angle:

**ÉLISE’S OFFICE**

 

MILLER: The Swedish themselves apparently didn’t have the possibility to do the necessary tests, so the samples were analysed in a lab in Germany, which is how the Germans became aware of the incident.

That’s when they realised that a polonium poisoning could also explain the symptoms of one of their people who had died in St. Petersburg a few months earlier under unexplained circumstances. They exhumed the body and the diagnoses could be verified. It is still unclear if the doctors in the hospital in St. Petersburg where he was treated really missed it or if it might have been deliberately concealed.

 

**SHOULDER CLOSE-UP OF KARL**

 

_He looks down in the file._

 

**CLOSE-UP OF A PAGE IN THE FILE**

 

_We see a picture of a man of about 30 years beneath Andreas Köster’s name._

 

Cut back to the broader angle:

**ÉLISE’S OFFICE**

 

MILLER: After two confirmed victims the Germans and the Swedes alerted their allies about the cases of Andreas Köster and Konstantin Kurpatov so when we got the information about Mark Harris’ sickness we could draw our conclusions…

 

ÉLISE ( _pointing at the file in her hand)_ : Who’s Grace Harris…?

 

MILLER ( _with a stoney face)_ : According to the current state of investigation Mark Harris ate a soup which was spiked with polonium. He shared it with his two-year-old daughter... _(Pause)_ Due to her low body weight she died within just a few hours. As macabre as it is thanks to the fact that Mark Harris ate quite little of the soup himself he got away comparably well. He is in hospital in London going through the Walking Ghost Phase right now… You’re familiar with that term?

 

_Karl and Élise nod._

 

BĒRZIŅA: It is unclear at this point whether or not he will survive once he enters the third stage. But contrary to the others he might at least have a chance.

Concerning Inese Anderson we weren’t even aware that she had died until we were informed that you had her body checked for polonium and other possible alpha transmitters  - but even if we had known, it might have taken us a while until we had made the connection…

 

_She frowns for a moment._

 

ÉLISE: I take it that all these people were in some way or another involved with secret service activity which is what made them become targets?

 

MILLER ( _reluctantly_ ): I… ( _He hesitates for a moment._ ) I think I can confirm that, yes.

 

ÉLISE: Do you have any leads? Who are we looking for?

 

BĒRZIŅA: Considering the similarity with the case of Alexander Litvinenko where the trail clearly let to Russia, we’re fairly certain that that’s the direction to look in this time as well… Unfortunately we don’t have much more than that. We do have a certain knowledge of people working for the Russians who would be capable of something like this, but they all could be ruled out. Up to now we don’t have much...

 

**SHOULDER CLOSE-UP OF KARL**

 

_He is turning a few pages in the file in his hand. He frowns disapprovingly._

 

**CLOSE-UP OF A PAGE IN THE FILE**

 

_Most of the text is blacked out. He turns some pages. The other pages don’t look much different._

 

Cut back to the broader angle:

**ÉLISE’S OFFICE**

 

_Karl points at a page where almost all the text is unreadable._

 

KARL: Don’t you think we could work much more effectively if we had all the information? It should be in your own interest since you want to benefit from our progress as well, don’t you?

 

MILLER: Mr. Roebuck, we will give you the necessary context to work on your case more target-orientedly so we can profit from each others results, but for reasons of national security we certainly won’t give you exact information on what these people were working on.

 

BĒRZIŅA: Our main concern is that the Russians shouldn’t even have been aware whom these people were working for. We’re desperately trying to find out how not just one but four people from different secret services working on completely unrelated assignments could be uncovered at the same time. There must be a severe security gap with information not just about one but several secret services in Europe.

We hope by finding the killer we’ll close in on that problem as well.

 

MILLER _(to Élise and Karl)_ : After you have read up on the new material _(He nods towards the files in Karl’s and Élise’s hands.)_ we’ll brief the rest of your team but I must strongly demand that that particular information stays on this level of command!

 

\---------------------

 

Later:

**SHOULDER CLOSE-UP OF GRACIE’S MOM, A GRAINY PICTURE WITH PALE COLOURS**

 

_In the upper right corner we see the date 29/9/18 and the time 22:03. In the background we see a bookshelf and some pictures on the wall. It’s a recording of the interview that took place in the hospital after Miller and Bērziņa questioned Mark Harris. Gracie’s Mom isn’t looking at the camera but at  the people outside of the camera’s view, sitting in front of her and interviewing her. Their questions can be heard from the off. We recognise Miller’s and Bērziņa’s voices._

 

MILLER: Do you remember anything unusual?

 

_Gracie’s Mom looks confused at them._

 

GRACIE’S MOM: Unusual how?

 

BĒRZIŅA: Did someone get close to your table? Talk to you even though you didn’t know them?

 

_Gracie’s Mom shakes her head._

 

BĒRZIŅA (cont’d): Did you recognise someone? Was there someone who you might already have encountered during the previous days or hours? Who seemingly accidently might have lingered in front of your house in the morning? Or who followed you on your way to the cafe?

 

GRACIE’S MOM: No… I mean I didn’t pay attention to that! _(She looks from one to the other.)_ What happened to my daughter? What is the matter with my husband?

 

JOHN ( _ignoring the questions)_ : After you husband got his soup… Did you ever leave it unattended?

 

GRACIE’S MOM: No… _(She stops and stares at the people in front of her.)_ Was there something in the soup?!

 

_She looks frantically at the man and the woman in front of her._

 

MAN ( _placidly_ ): Could someone have had access to the soup after it was left at your table?

 

GRACIE’S MOM: I don’t know! What is it that you think happened?!

 

BĒRZIŅA: Mrs. Harris, considering what institution your husband worked for, I’m sure you understand, that there are things we can’t tell you…

 

GRACIE’S MOM: The MI6? _(laughing hectically)_ But he was just in administration! He was just an office clerk... ( _hesitating, desperately) ..._ wasn’t he?!

 

_She stares helplessly at the people in front of her. It seems to slowly dawn to here that there might be things she doesn’t know about her husband._

_A mouse pointer and the menu bar of the video player appear in the picture. The mouse pointer moves the the pause button. The film stops._

 

Cut back to the broader angle:

**ÉLISE’S OFFICE**

 

_Karl and Élise are sitting together at Élise’s desk in front of her computer monitor, watching the material they got from the secret service people. They are alone in the room. The others have left.  Élise holds the mouse. She has just stopped the video._

 

KARL _(ironically)_ : At least his wife knows as little about what he really did as we do...

 

ÉLISE: He obviously wasn’t just an office clerk...

 

KARL ( _nodding_ ): Andreas Köster worked for the Germans probably - on some mission for the BND in St. Petersburg... What about Konstantin Kurpatov?

 

ÉLISE: A defector? According to his name he’s clearly Russian but it were the Swedish who investigated his death. Bērziņa said he was a very likely target - one of the Russian’s own people who had changed sites and who they wanted to keep from spilling the beans to the Swedish?

 

_Karl nods. He takes up a file._

 

KARL: Inese Anderson - or Eglīte before marriage - actually did work for the Latvian secret service but she quit during her time in Lyon.

 

ÉLISE: Maybe because she met Mike Anderson and wanted to start a normal life with him...

 

KARL: Maybe… _(He turns a few pages.)_ It’s the only information on what the victims worked on that they didn’t black out… Probably because it was so long ago…

 

ÉLISE: Which might also be the reason why they said they didn’t even learn about her death let alone that they would have suspected anything if they had known. They seemed to be surprised themselves why she ended up on the killer’s list. It’s odd to assassinate someone who hasn’t been active for such a long time.

 

_Karl rubs his face with his hands._

 

KARL ( _annoyedly_ ): This would be so much easier if they wouldn’t keep us guessing!

 

ÉLISE: You have to admit that we can already put our case in a much broader context now. What exactly the victims were working on is really irrelevant for us at the moment. It’s just hurting your ego that they won’t tell you everything...

 

KARL ( _angrily_ ): I googled Bērziņa… It’s the most common surname in Latvia. As Anna is the most common female given name… So Anna Bērziņa is basically the female Latvian equivalent to the name John Miller in English… Whatever their names might be it’s certainly not Miller and Bērziņa… They didn’t even tell us their real names! This has nothing to do with my ego! It’s simply...

 

_He gets interrupted because the door is opened. Philippe’s head appears._

 

PHILLIPPE: The meeting starts…! Are you coming?

 

_Karl and Élise nod and get up._

 

\----------------------

 

**OPEN SPACE OFFICE AT THE CALAIS POLICE STATION**

 

_In the background we see the whiteboard with the names of the victims and the dates and places where they got poisoned and died._

_Certainly-not-Miller and Certainly-not-Bērziņa are standing in front of the board. The team sits around them on chairs and at desks and listens. Some looking into the files they got. Some taking notes. Phillippe and some others have joined the team. The case has gotten more importance and more resources._

 

CERTAINLY-NOT-MILLER: ...in the case of Alexander Litvinenko the murderers left traces of polonium wherever they went. We haven’t found anything like that up to now except in the scullery of the restaurant where Harris was poisoned where his soup bowl must have been cleaned.

We don’t know, if this murderer is much more careful and skilled or if we just haven’t found the traces yet even though they are there.

 

PHILIPPE: Are you sure that those are all the victims?

 

_He points at the white board._

 

CERTAINLY-NOT-MILLER: Those are all we are aware of up to now... It is totally possible that there are other victims we don’t know about.

 

CERTAINLY-NOT-BĒRZIŅA: And of course there might be more victims to come…

 

KARL: Have you warned possible further victims?

 

CERTAINLY-NOT-BĒRZIŅA: Up to now we chose not to… We don’t want this to attract too much attention. We just need to find out as soon as possible who is running around in Europe putting polonium in people's’ tomato soup!

 

CERTAINLY-NOT-MILLER: You’ve got the information you need in your file _(He starts to hand out a new paper.)_  and we just got the credit card data from the restaurant the Harris family ate lunch at at the day Mark and Grace Harris got poisoned.

 

**SHOULDER CLOSE-UP OF ÉLISE**

 

_She looks at the new list._

 

CERTAINLY-NOT-MILLER (cont’d, _voiceover_ ): We want you to go through the witness accounts…

 

**CLOSE-UP OF THE LIST**

 

_The camera is panning over the list from top to bottom. Élise is skimming through the list. There are the names of the owners of the credit cards, the banks the credit card was issued from and the date and time it was used at the restaurant._

_Suddenly the picture stops and moves up a few lines again. It stops on the name Violetta Grigoryeva. There is a Russian bank listed as having issued the credit card._

 

CERTAINLY-NOT-MILLER (cont’d, _voiceover_ ): ...the CCTV and the credit card and phone records of the other three murders…

 

**CLOSE-UP OF ÉLISE’S FACE**

 

_She frowns for a moment. Then she closes her eyes for a few seconds, a relaxed but concentrated expression on her face. The sounds around fade out. Everything gets completely silent: She’s in her “house”, trying to remember something._

_She suddenly opens her eyes again. Abruptly the sounds start again._

 

CERTAINLY-NOT-MILLER (cont’d, _voiceover_ ): ...similarities with your case.

 

_Élise looks shocked. She swallows. She looks up._

 

**CLOSE-UP OF THE WHITEBOARD, ÉLISE’S POV**

 

_The camera slowly zooms in on the dates and the cities, where the poisonings happened._

 

CERTAINLY-NOT-MILLER (cont’d, _voiceover_ ): We need to find the common link so we can...

 

_Certainly-not-Miller’s voice and the other sounds in the background start to get blurry._

 

Cut back to:

**CLOSE-UP OF ÉLISE**

 

_Élise is staring at the dates on the board. The voices and the sounds in the background get even blurrier. They slowly fade over to a static sound that gets louder and louder. Élise looks down again at the paper with the names of the credit card holders’ names in front of her, horrified now. She swallows again. The static sound keeps getting louder and louder, while the camera slowly zooms in to Élise’s shocked face. She slowly looks up._

  
**OPEN SPACE OFFICE AT THE CALAIS POLICE STATION, ÉLISE’S POV**

_Élise looks around. Everyone around her moves like in slow motion. The loud static sound continues. Certainly-not-Miller's mouth moves, he's still talking but the words don't reach Élise through the static noise._

  
Cut back to:  
**SHOULDER** **CLOSE-UP OF ÉLISE**

 

_Élise looks distraught and absent. The loud static sound is still drowning everything else._

 

OLIVIER (voiceover, his voice slowly penetrating the static noise, finally catching Élise’s attention): Élise?! Élise?!

 

_Élise hastily looks up like waking up from a dream. She turns her head to Olivier. The static sound slowly fades over to the normal voices and background sounds again._

 

Cut back to the broader angle:

**OPEN SPACE OFFICE AT THE CALAIS POLICE STATION**

 

_Élise looks around. Everybody is looking expectantly at her. Olivier seems to have called her several times._

 

ÉLISE: Yes…?

 

OLIVIER: Are you alright?

 

ÉLISE: Yes…

 

_She doesn’t look that way._

 

OLIVIER: You wanted to update us on the state of investigation on your case...! Is there anything new?

 

ÉLISE: Er… No…

 

_She seems to have to concentrate really hard to focus on the conversation._

 

ÉLISE: I’m checking some leads from the CCTV of the service stations the bus stopped at. There was a car that looked interesting. The license plates led to a car rental service… I’m waiting for their response… I’ll keep you posted…

 

CERTAINLY-NOT-MILLER: Ok…

 

\----------------------

 

A little later:

**ÉLISE’S OFFICE**

 

_Élise comes rushing in. She closes the door behind herself and hastily sits down at her desk. She takes up her backpack and gets her Harry Potter book out of it. She takes the slip of paper she uses as a bookmark which fell out of the plastic bag when she took the book out on the evening she started to read it._

 

**CLOSE-UP OF THE SLIP OF PAPER**

 

_It’s a receipt for the Harry Potter book issued by a bookstore at the Arlanda airport._

 

**SHOULDER CLOSE-UP OF ÉLISE**

 

_She looks up._

 

**VIEW FROM ÉLISE’S OFFICE THROUGH THE GLASS WALLS TO THE OPEN SPACE OFFICE, ÉLISE’S POV**

 

We see the white board _with the names of the victims and the dates and places of the poisonings._

 

Cut back to:

**CLOSE-UP OF THE SLIP OF PAPER**

 

_The camera zooms in to the date on the receipt. It’s the 27th of January…_

 

**SHOULDER CLOSE-UP OF ÉLISE**

 

_She looks at the receipt, her impression even more shocked and petrified than before._

_Her computer makes a Bing for a new incoming mail. She slowly puts the receipt back into the book and puts the book down on her desk._

_Like a sleepwalker she takes her mouse to open her mail program._

 

**CLOSE-UP OF THE COMPUTER MONITOR**

 

_The new mail’s sender is Car Rentals Gare du Nord. The mail gets opened. We read:_

 

Commandant Wassermann,

 

comme vous l'avez demandé nous vous envoyons...

 

**SHOULDER CLOSE-UP OF ÉLISE**

 

_She clicks with the mouse._

 

Cut back to:

**CLOSE-UP OF THE COMPUTER MONITOR**

 

_The attachment of the mail opens. We see a copy of the rental contract with the name of the customer who rented the car: Violetta Grigoryeva_

 

**SHOULDER CLOSE-UP OF ÉLISE**

 

_She closes her eyes._

  
ÉLISE ( _whispering_ ): Putain!

 


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The newsreader's text was translated with google translate. I apologize for all mistakes and weird expressions it might contain...

**OPEN SPACE OFFICE AT THE CALAIS POLICE STATION**

 

_The members of the team are sitting at their desks in front of their computers reading up on the new material about the other cases. Élise gets out of the door of her office in the background wearing her jacket, her backpack over her shoulder._

_When she walks by Karl’s desk he stops her. BB is sitting at the next desk and overhears the conversation._

 

KARL _(looking at his watch)_ : You’re going for lunch already?

 

_Élise is avoiding eye contact. She looks strained and tired._

 

ÉLISE: Um… Yes...

 

KARL: Why didn’t you say something? I’ll come with you…

 

_He is about to get up._

 

ÉLISE: No, don’t… Actually… I’m not going for lunch… I need to take care of something…

 

KARL _(still surprised)_ : OK…

 

_Élise walks away hastily before anybody can ask more questions. BB at the next desk also throws a wondering glance at Élise who’s just leaving the office. The door falls shot behind her. Karl and BB exchange confused glances._

 

\-----------------------

 

**ÉLISE’S FLAT**

 

_Élise is crouching in front of the wall beside her bed. She hastily screws off the base board._

 

Cut to:

**A PRETTY HIP CAFÉ**

 

_Eryka is standing at the till at the bar, paying. Behind the bar a TV is running in the background. Eryka seems to hear something that catches her attention. She looks up at the screen._

_A newsreader can be seen on the screen, behind him the picture of Sergei Selepov - who we saw in the TV-interview Karl watched in Chapter 3 can be seen._

 

NEWSREADER: ...atkāpās no savas pozīcijas šodien. Puse paziņojumā presei rakstīja, ka viņam bija jāatsakās veselības apsvērumu dēļ. Visu partiju politiķi cienījās Seļpovam par… (SUBTITLES: ...stepped back from his position today. The party  wrote in its press release that he had to step down for health reasons. Politicians of all parties paid tribute to Selepov for…)

 

_A man apparently coming back from the toilet joins Eryka and interrupts her in listening to the news. We recognize Commander Tobias Gantmann from the interviw Karl watched, plain-clothed this time._

 

GANTMANN: Hast du gezahlt? (SUBTITLES: Did you pay?)

 

ERYKA: Ja (SUBTITLES: Ja)

 

_She smiles at him._

 

 

Cut to:

**ÉLISE’S FLAT**

_Élise takes the phone out that’s hidden behind the base board and gets up. She hesitates for a moment, then she dials a number and takes the phone up to her ear._

 

**A BUSY STREET IN A CITY**

 

_The street is dominated by multistorey Jugendstil buildings, in between some isolated, significantly smaller wooden houses. Most buildings are in good condition, but some very few seem not to have been renovated for decades. Cars are parked to the right and to the left of the street. In the background we see a tram pass by on an intersecting street. Advertisements and signs on shops are in latin letters with an unusual amount of diacritics. One advertisement is set up in two versions: additionally to the one in latin letters there’s an identical one right beside in cyrillic letters._

_Eryka and Gantmann are getting out from a cafe._

 

GANTMANN: Sehen wir uns heute Abend? (SUBTITLES: Do I see you tonight?)

 

_Eryka’s phone starts ringing in her purse._

 

ERYKA _(while rummaging around in her purse looking for her phone)_ : Ja, gegen 8? (SUBTITLES: Yes, around 8?)

 

_Gantmann nods. He gives her peck on the cheek. Eryka gets her phone out and gets a startled look on her face when she sees the display._

 

GANTMANN: Bis dann! (SUBTITLES: See you then!)

 

ERYKA (distracted): Bis dann! (SUBTITLES: See you then!)

 

_Gantmann walks away. Eryka leaves in the other direction. She speeds up, the phone still in her hand, while at the same time fishing a key out of her pocket. A car at the side of the road blinks when she presses the button on the key. She hastily opens the door and gets in._

 

 

 

**INSIDE OF ERYKA’S CAR**

 

_Eryka answers the phone._

 

ERYKA: You’re not supposed to use this number for calls!

 

**ÉLISE’S FLAT**

 

_Élise is still standing beside her bed._

 

ÉLISE ( _agitatedly_ ): And you’re not supposed to fucking kill people within my jurisdiction!

 

**INSIDE OF ERYKA’S CAR**

 

_Eryka is sitting in her car. The phone at her ear. She looks startled, processing the information. Finally:_

 

ERYKA: I’m... sorry!

 

**ÉLISE’S FLAT**

 

ÉLISE ( _angryly_ ): What the hell were you thinking?!

 

**INSIDE OF ERYKA’S CAR**

 

_Eryka closes her eyes for some moments._

 

ERYKA: She was supposed to already be back in England before even the first symptoms occurred...

 

**ÉLISE’S FLAT**

 

ÉLISE ( _ironically_ ): Well,... She got stuck in traffic!

 

**INSIDE OF ERYKA’S CAR**

 

ERYKA: How did you...?

 

**ÉLISE’S FLAT**

 

_Élise seems to slowly calm down a little._

 

ÉLISE: I recognised the name from one of your passports on the list of credit cards used on the boat cafe where Mark Harris was poisoned. I still hoped it was just a coincidence but the dates of the other… _(She swallows.)_ murders… ( _Pause_ ) I know when you were in London... The date of your stay in Stockholm is on the receipt of the Harry Potter book you got me… And now I got the rental contract of a car whose license plates can be seen on the CCTV of the petrol stations Inese Anderson’s coach stopped at…

 

**INSIDE OF ERYKA’S CAR**

 

_Eryka closes her eyes again._

 

ERYKA: I told you you shouldn't have looked at the passports!

 

**ÉLISE’S FLAT**

 

ÉLISE: That's not really the point, is it?! Violetta Grigoryeva is exactly the connection we’ve been looking for. She links the cases in Calais and London. If I pass on this information she will be in the centre of the investigation and at some point we WILL connect her to you. Whether I saw the passport or not doesn't really change that much!

 

**INSIDE OF ERYKA’S CAR**

 

ERYKA _(desperately)_ : Élise, listen… Please…!

 

**ÉLISE’S FLAT**

 

ÉLISE _(interrupting her)_ : No, you listen to me! I will find a way to withhold the information about the rental contract somehow, but I don’t know for how long. At some point someone else might recheck the license plates or hear back with the rental company, but until then you can...

 

**INSIDE OF ERYKA’S CAR**

 

ERYKA ( _louder, interrupting her)_ : STOP! Stop it, Élise! _(intensely)_ DON’T do that! DON’T play this differently just because you know it’s me you’re up against! Please! DON’T!

 

**ÉLISE’S FLAT**

 

ÉLISE (agitatedly) : This is not a game, Eryka! Do you think if you accept this favour, we’ll never find out who of us is on the better team, because you got an unfair advantage? You really can’t afford to NOT use any advantage you have, because my team wins, we have not simply won some sort of competition! If my team wins, you’ll  go to prison for the rest of your life! (softly) I really can't…

 

**INSIDE OF ERYKA’S CAR**

 

ERYKA ( _interrupting her, distinctly)_ : Your team WILL not win!

 

**ÉLISE’S FLAT**

 

_Élise processes that information for a moment._

 

ÉLISE: Ok...

 

**INSIDE OF ERYKA’S CAR**

 

ERYKA: Forget that you ever saw my passports, but whatever other information you get about Violette Grigoryeva, please, don’t handle it any differently than you would otherwise… Please! Trust me!

 

**ÉLISE’S FLAT**

 

_Élise slowly gets that Eryka seems to know what she is talking about and that there seems to be some kind of point with her request._

 

ÉLISE: Ok…

 

ERYKA (over the phone): Promise me!

 

ÉLISE: Yes, I promise...

 

**INSIDE OF ERYKA’S CAR**

 

ERYKA: Good...

 

**ÉLISE’S FLAT**

 

ÉLISE: Will I see you soon?

 

**INSIDE OF ERYKA’S CAR**

 

ERYKA: Yes… I have to take care of some things… But then I’ll contact you… We need to talk about some stuff…

 

ÉLISE _(over the phone)_ : OK...

 

ERYKA: Talk to you soon…

 

ÉLISE _(over the phone)_ : Yes, soon…

 

ERYKA: Bye…

 

_She ends the call. For a moment she is just sitting there with her phone in her hand and stares into space. The she takes her phone up again._

 

**CLOSE-UP OF ERYKA’S PHONE**

 

 _She opens the list of her incoming calls. Élise’s call appears here as_ “Unknown number”. _Eryka marks the call and chooses_ "Delete from history”.

 

**INSIDE OF ERYKA’S CAR**

  
_Eryka lets her hand with the phone sink down in her lap again. She closes her eyes in desperation and leans her head back exhaustedly._

 

\----------------------

 

**TEMPORARY OFFICE OF CERTAINLY-NOT-MILLER AND CERTAINLY-NOT-BĒRZIŅA**

 

_Certainly-not-Miller, Certainly-not-Bērziņa and Olivier are inside, working at their desks. Élise knocks at the half open door. She looks strained and tired. She holds up a paper._

 

ÉLISE: I’ve got something…

 

A little later:

**TEMPORARY OFFICE OF CERTAINLY-NOT-MILLER AND CERTAINLY-NOT-BĒRZIŅA**

 

_Certainly-not-Miller, Certainly-not-Bērziņa, Olivier Karl and Élise sit together, just having been briefed about Élise’s result. On the computer monitor on the desk we see a freezed frame of the CCTV of the petrol station. The licence plates of the hired car in question clearly visible. During the conversation Élise just sits there and stares apathetically into space._

 

CERTAINLY-NOT-BĒRZIŅA: We need to check where else this woman’s credit card was used and we need to send an official request to the Russians to get more information on her. Ideally we even get her in for questioning… In case the Russians are actually going assist us, that is...

 

CERTAINLY-NOT-MILLER ( _ironically_ ): Oh, I’ve got high hopes for that...!

 

_Karl looks at the picture on the computer monitor, pondering._

 

KARL: Considering how these murders were executed, with what method and considering that there were no other traces up to now what so ever, we can assume that it’s a highly professional person we’re dealing with, can’t we?

 

_The others nod agreeingly._

 

CERTAINLY-NOT-BĒRZIŅA: I suppose so, yes...

 

KARL: Someone like that is aware of CCTV. And this is France not Britain. You actually have a chance to avoid being filmed. Why would her car’s license plate end up on the CCTV footage not just on one but on both petrol stations? ( _He points at the almost empty parking area that is visible on the CCTV footage in the background._ ) There are many, many parking spaces available where she could have parked, without revealing her license plate.

 

_Élise wakes up from her apathy._

 

ÉLISE: You think we were supposed to see it?

 

KARL (to _Certainly-not-Miller and Certainly-not-Bērziņa)_ : That you checked the credit cards used at the boat restaurant was more routine than anything else, wasn’t it? Or did you really expect that the killer would provide us with his name just like that?!

 

CERTAINLY-NOT-MILLER: To be honest… Not really…

 

KARL: Wherever this clue will lead us… I’m pretty sure it’s a trail that has been lain out for us…

 

 **SHOULDER** **CLOSE-UP OF ÉLISE**

 

_She looks almost relieved, slowly getting that this might not be such a problem for Eryka after all._

 

Cut back to:

**TEMPORARY OFFICE OF CERTAINLY-NOT-MILLER AND CERTAINLY-NOT-BĒRZIŅA**

 

CERTAINLY-NOT-MILLER: But at least it is a lead at all… _(To Élise)_ Good work, Commander!

 

_Élise nods distractedly. She presses the play button for CCTV footage, lets it run for a few seconds and stops it again at the moment we see the driver get out of the car. It’s a blurry picture. All that’s recognisable is, that considering the frame it’s supposedly a woman. Everything else is hidden behind sunglasses and a sunhat._

 

ÉLISE _(hesitantly)_ : Do you think… The technicians will be able to get a usable picture of her…?

 

The others join her at the computer. They let the footage run until the woman leaves the area that’s covered by the camera. She never turns her face to the camera.

 

CERTAINLY-NOT-MILLER: Hardly… She obviously knows exactly what she’s doing… But we’ll let the technicians play with it anyway… Who knows…

 

 **SHOULDER** **CLOSE-UP OF ÉLISE**

 

_She looks at the blurry woman on the monitor obviously very uncomfortable with the fact, that she knows exactly who this woman is._

 

_The screen turns to black._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love to hear what you think! Every comment makes my day!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had almost given up on this story, because it didn’t really seem like anybody was interested in it anymore and I really felt like I was mostly talking to myself.  
> I have ended each chapter with “Please, let me know what you think!”, but maybe I need to state it a little more clearly: I won’t continue a story of which I don’t even know if there is anybody left who’s still reading it.  
> So please if you are out there and you still do care about this story, please let me know.
> 
> \--------
> 
> There are a few changes in the previous chapter. So if you read chapter 5 before the 7th of January you should read it again.

**ÉLISE’S FLAT**

 

_Élise gets in. She puts her backpack down and starts to take off her jacket._

 

Later:

**ÉLISE’S FLAT**

 

_Élise is sitting at her kitchen table. A mug of coffee in front of her. She looks restless and exhausted. She puts the mug down. Some little drops of coffee spill onto the table. She sighs and wipes a drop up with her finger and licks it off her finger. She repeats the procedure with the next drop. After she has put her finger into her mouth a second time, she suddenly freezes.  She takes her arms up, away from the table and stares at the table’s surface in front of her._

 

ÉLISE ( _whispering_ ): Putain!

 

_She rushes over to her kitchen and rinses her mouth out at the kitchen sink. She turns around again and slowly walks back to her table, looking around in her flat increasingly unsettled. She slowly lets herself sink on her bed. A second later she jumps up again like she had sat down on a hotplate._

_She takes a few steps back from her bed, staring at it panickingly like she did at the table before._

 

ÉLISE ( _whispering_ ): Merde!

  
_She looks around in her flat panicking. She grabs her key from the counter and takes the few steps it takes to get to the door. She takes a last distressed look around her flat before she hastily gets out and closes the door behind herself._

 

The next morning:

**THE BREAK ROOM AT THE POLICE STATION**

 

_Élise is lying on the sofa, her back turned to the door. Olivier gets in. Élise wakes up from the sound of the door and turns around on the sofa._

 

OLIVIER ( _surprised_ ): Qu’est-ce que tu fais ici? As-tu passé la nuit ici? (Subtitles: What are you doing here? Did you spend the night here)

 

ÉLISE _(sleepy)_ : Oui… _(She sits up.)_ Il était si tard hier qu'il est inutile de rentrer. (Subtitles: Yes… It was so late yesterday, that it wasn’t worth it to go home.

 

OLIVIER: Tu as vraiment besoin de repos, Élise! (Subtitles: You really need to get your rest, Élise!)

 

ÉLISE _(sitting up_ ): Je sais… Je sais… (Subtitles: I know.. I know...)

 

Later:

**A CONFERENCE ROOM**

 

_Meeting of all people involved with the investigation to exchange all current information. They are sitting together around a conference table. Élise takes part in the discussions but she seems very distracted, loathy to be a part of this._

 

CERTAINLY-NOT-BĒRZIŅA: We sent a request to Russia about Violetta Grigoryeva. Not too surprisingly we got the answer that she doesn’t exist. They claim that the passport she used to rent the car is a false one.

 

ÉLISE: The bank account her credit card draws money from does exist. Apparently it was opened with the same - false - passport. The bank provided us with a list of all the times and places the credit card was used.

At the morning of the day Konstantin Kurpatov fell ill she paid for a taxi from a street close to the house the Swedish hid him at to the main station in Stockholm. In St. Petersburg she paid for a coffee and some food at a restaurant close to the place Andreas Köster worked at. That was in the evening before he started to have the first symptoms.

In general the card was used very rarely. Just once every few weeks sometimes even months in different cities all around Europe.

 

KARL: We sent requests to the local police of the countries and cities where Violetta Grigoryeva seems to have stayed. Up to now we did get one answer from the police in Warsaw: There was an up to now unexplained death of an US-American diplomat last February that now in context sounds very much like radiation poisoning. During the last days before she fell ill the victim stayed at a hotel where Violetta Grigoryeva’s credit card was used to pay for a room at exactly the same time. The Polish are going to contact the American authorities now to verify if she might actually have died of polonium poisoning.

 

ÉLISE: In that case the police had already investigated because the doctors had already suspected some kind of poisoning, so the colleagues there already had it in their database. Other cases might have gone unnoticed so the polices in the other cities are still checking with the local hospitals if there were cases with the according symptoms at the times in question.

 

CERTAINLY-NOT-BĒRZIŅA: We checked with our associates as well and there are two cases, one in Brussels and one in Turin, that now in retrospect fit into the pattern. ( _angrily_ ) In one case the colleagues had actually already found out what they were dealing with but failed to inform their allies about that case… I suppose it could have saved us a lot of trouble if we had found out about this earlier!

 

_Élise looks up at the whiteboard with the list of the victims with the dates and places where they got poisoned and died. The list has increased with three people now. Certainly-not-Bērziņa realises her troubled look._

 

CERTAINLY-NOT-BĒRZIŅA: I’m afraid with more information coming in that list will supposedly increase even more…

 

_Élise tries to look unimpressed._

 

OLIVIER: These are all the information we have up to now on the newly discovered cases in Warsaw, Brussels and Turin. _(He starts to distribute a pile of copied papers.)_ Read up on those information. We’ll keep you posted on how we’re going to continue with the investigation.

  
_Élise gets her copy. She starts to read it._

 

**CLOSE-UP OF THE PAPER**

 

_We read:_

 

Henrik Jansson

Nationality: Swedish

Occupation: Swedish Secretary at the European Commission

Died: 2017-04-30 in Brussels

 

_Élise turns a page. We read on:_

 

Jansson had started to feel unwell in the night of the 5th of April and fell seriously ill during the early morning of the 6th of April. He was hospitalised during the day.

He had visited a bar “Liberty” in Brussel on the evening of the 5 th of April. It is suspected that the poisoning happened there.

 

**SHOULDER CLOSE-UP OF ÉLISE**

 

_She looks even more troubled than before but does her best to hide it._

_The picture starts to get blurry. It slowly fades over to…_

 

**A NOOK IN A BAR**

 

_Élise and Eryka are sitting together at a table. The waitress is just bringing their food. She puts a plate with (of course…) chips in front of Élise. While she puts down Eryka’s plate, which looks a little more like a grown-up’s food, Élise takes a bottle of tabasco that’s standing beside the salt and pepper shakers on the table and seasons her chips._

 

ÉLISE _(holding up the bottle, to the waitress)_ : Le bouteille est vide. Pouvez-vous le remplir, s’il te plaît? (Subtitles: The bottle is empty. Could you refill it, please?)

 

WAITRESS _(Belgian-French accent)_ : Bien sure! Je reviens tout de suite. (Subtitles: Of course. I’ll be right back.)

 

_Élise and Eryka look relaxed and happy to be together._

 

Some time later:

**STILL THE NOOK IN THE BAR**

 

_Élise and Eryka have finished their dinner. They have cocktails on their table now. They sit close together, talking._

 

ERYKA: You learn to become invisible, you know. When they were coming… Schäfer’s guests… And they chose among the children, who they… wanted… You couldn’t run and hide, but you could disappear among the other children so they’d pick someone else but not you. _(Stone-faced)_ It didn’t work all the time, but I became quite good at it over times.

 

_Élise looks at her while she listens. She doesn’t say anything but it’s not out of awkwardness but rather the realisation that there is not much to say about this._

 

ERYKA (cont’d): I need to use the bathroom. I’ll be right back.

 

_She gets up and walks towards the entrance area where the toilets are. Élise looks after her affectionately. On her way Eryka closely passes by a table at which a blonde man and a woman, presumingly his wife or girlfriend, are sitting. Eryka is not evidently stopping or slowing down. She is not even looking at them. Maybe she gets a little closer to their table than she did with the other tables she walked by._

 

Some time later:

**AT THE TILL OF THE BAR**

 

_Eryka pays with her credit card. Élise stands by, waiting for her. When Eryka has payed, they both walk towards the door to leave. The couple from the table Eryka walked by previously is standing beside the entrance door putting on their jackets. While Eryka and Élise get out the camera stays with the couple. The man staggers._

 

WOMAN: Är du okej? (Subtitles: Are you ok?)

 

MAN: Jag vet inte… Jag känner mig lite snurrig… (Subtitles: I don’t know… I feel a little dizzy…)

 

_Through the glass entrance door we see Eryka and Élise walk away. They walk closely side by side, Eryka’s hand resting on Élise’s lower back for a second. An attentive observer might guess that they're more than just friends._

 

The picture fades back to :

**ÉLISE’S FACE**

 

_She’s staring into space with a stoney face._

 

Cut to the broader angle:

**TEMPORARY OFFICE OF CERTAINLY-NOT-MILLER AND CERTAINLY-NOT-BĒRZIŅA**

 

_The lead investigators Certainly-not-Miller, Certainly-not-Bērziņa, Olivier, Élise and Karl are sitting together planning and coordinating further investigations._

_Élise is sitting with them but seems absent and not following the discussion._

 

CERTAINLY-NOT-MILLER: Do we have enough people in our team to cooperate on-site with the local police forces that are investigating the murders?  It’s easier to see possible common links if you don’t just read the protocols but are actually there.

  
KARL: I think we do. BB can go to Warsaw. _(To Élise)_ Will you cover Brussels?

 

_Élise wakes up from her rigor._

 

ÉLISE: Erm… Brussels?! _(fiercely)_ No…!

 

KARL _(surprised)_ : Why not?

 

ÉLISE: I… erm… I’m the lead investigator… ( _With a side glance to Certainly-not-Miller, Certainly-not-Bērziņa and Olivier) ..._ of the civil police at least. I think I should stay where all the information converges so I can keep the overview. Can’t you go?

 

KARL: You speak their language. It’d be much easier if you’d go.

 

ÉLISE:  I’m not the only person here who speaks French… We can send Philippe. Louise can cover Paris.

 

OLIVIER _(looking at the list of victims at the whiteboard)_ : How many more are there, do you think?

 

ÉLISE: We still have three dates and places where the credit card was used, where we haven’t found a victim yet. I’m sure we will find at least one dead body for each of that occasions as well.

 

KARL: Why are they deliberately leaving this trail with Violetta Grigoryeva’s credit card?

 

ÉLISE: To show off! Polonium is a scaringly perfect method to assassinate someone: It takes time until the first serious symptoms occur. Since the symptoms are so unspecific it takes even longer until anyone finds out what really happened… And even once you do find out, there is hardly anything you can do, but watch the victim die…

By then it’s very difficult to trace back when and where the poisoning even happened. The perpetrator is long gone as are the memories of all possible witnesses.

This is not just about killing people that are in their way for some reason. It’s about scaring their opponents. We are realising now that the murders we knew about were just the tip of the iceberg and that someone has been killing people working for Western secret services for almost two years without anybody being aware of it.

It makes us look totally defenceless and completely unable to protect our people… They would have totally wasted that effect if they wouldn’t have let us known that these cases are connected and where to look for additional murders that we missed initially.

The payments with that credit card are like little salutations to us...

 

KARL: You almost sound impressed…

 

ÉLISE: It is pretty smart isn’t it?

 

_The others can hardly disagree with that._

 

CERTAINLY-NOT-BĒRZIŅA: We got some new material from London this morning. You all should take a look at that.

 

_The others nod. They all start to get up to get back to work._

 

ÉLISE: Erm… The radioactive traces that were left by Litvinenko’s murderers… Do you know how the hotel rooms and the airplanes and so on were decontaminated after that?

 

_The others seem confused about this question._

 

CERTAINLY-NOT-MILLER: No idea, actually… Why do you ask? Do you have any ideas for places that should be checked?

 

ÉLISE: No… I mean the rental car maybe?

 

OLIVIER: When Louise is going to Paris, she’ll certainly talk to the people who are examining the car. We’ll know pretty soon if they found any radiation in there.

 

_Élise nods exhaustedly. She can hardly explain why she really asked this question without revealing who stayed at her flat just a few days ago._

 

\--------------------

 

**SHOULDER CLOSE-UP OF GRACIE’S MOM, A GRAINY PICTURE WITH PALE COLOURS**

 

_In the upper right corner we see the date 2/10/18 and the time 10:23. It’s the same setting we saw on the other video with the previous interview with her._

 

GRACIE’S MOM ( _agitatedly)_ : If I didn’t remember two days ago, what makes you think that I do now?

 

VOICE FROM THE OFF: We told you that it probably was a woman and that she sat at the table right behind you. It’s possible that that information helped you to remember.

 

GRACIE’S MOM: I really can’t… _(She starts crying.)_ I really can’t think about this stuff right now.

 

VOICE FROM THE OFF: How’s your husband?

 

GRACIE’S MOM: You know that, don’t you? He’s ok right now but he knows what’s to expect during the next days. The doctor’s suggested a bone marrow transplant. It’s not sure that it’d help but it’s a chance apparently. He refused. He said Gracie died because of him. I keep telling him that just because he dies as well Gracie won’t come back… But he still doesn’t want to. I suppose he feels that he wouldn’t have the strength to go through it anyway...

 

Cut back to the broader angle:

**ÉLISE’S OFFICE**

_Karl and Élise are sitting together at Élise’s desk. They are alone in the room. The others have left by now. They’re watching the new material from London. Karl casts a sideways glance at Élise._

_He reaches for the mouse and stops the video._

 

KARL: Are you ok?

 

ÉLISE: Yes…

 

KARL: You don’t look that way… _(He pauses and looks at her questioning. She doesn’t answer.)_ You aren’t usually one to be seriously affected by the misery we get to see in this job… What’s the matter with you?

 

ÉLISE: Nothing! I’m alright. Go on! _(She points at the screen.)_

 

_Karl ignores her request._

 

KARL: You were so enthusiastic about this case in the beginning… So eager to work on it… And you were right about everything: Inese Anderson did get poisoned and this turned out to be a much bigger thing than anybody could imagine. So usually I would expect you to be totally thrilled about this case! But now you just seem… I don’t know… Tired?

 

ÉLISE: I slept very badly recently… _(After a short hesitation:)_ Can I come with you to England tonight and stay over?

 

KARL _(surprised)_ : Yes, sure… Why…?

 

ÉLISE: I... I think I just feel lonely…

 

_She turns back to the screen and clicks with the mouse. The video continues. She obviously doesn’t want to discuss this any further. Karl watches her and smiles, thinking she misses Eryka and thinkinking that’s kind of cute for rational Élise._

 

\--------------------

 

**A STORAGE ROOM**

 

_Many shelfs to the left and to the right. Cardboard boxes in the shelf. Élise appears in the door. She hastily turns her head and looks up and down the corridor, if someone is watching her before she gets into the room. She looks at the labels of some of the boxes until she draws one out of the shelf and takes something shrink-wrapped out of the box and stuffs it into the pocket of her jeans. A guy with a lab coat appears in the door and looks at her surprised._

 

GUY: Commandant… Vous cherchez quelque chose? (Subtitles: Commander… Are you looking for something?)

 

ÉLISE (hastily): Non…

 

_She nods at him and hastily disappears through the door into the corridor. The guy looks after her a little confused._

 

**CORRIDOR IN FRONT OF ÉLISE’S FLAT**

 

_Élise comes walking down the corridor. She stops in front of her door and takes the little package she packed in the storage room and opens the package. It’s a face mask that the crime scene forensics wear at crime scenes to not contaminate evidence and to not inhale any hazardous material._

_She unlocks the door of her flat and gets in._

 

**STREET IN FRONT OF ÉLISE’S HOUSE**

 

_Karl is sitting in his car waiting. Élise gets out of her house. She is carrying a small travel bag. She walks towards the car, puts the travel bag into the boot of the car and gets into the passenger seat._

 

**INSIDE OF KARL’S CAR**

  
_Karl starts the engine and drives off. Élise is sitting in the passenger seat staring into space._


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to everyone who commented on the last chapter! It means a lot to me to know that you’re enjoying the story!
> 
>  
> 
> I added a scene at the beginning of chapter 4 and did some smaller changes in chapter 5 and 6. Maybe you want to read those chapters again before continuing here.
> 
> A gigantic Thank You to Jo_G for her help with the French in this chapter!
> 
> Up to now there was a lot drafted already, so there were many parts that I just had to edit and connect somehow. Now I really have to write new stuff for the next chapters, so it might take a while until the next update comes. But I'll do my best!

**EUROTUNNEL SHUTTLE TRAIN, OUTSIDE VIEW OF KARL’S CAR**

 

_The passenger door opens and Élise gets out. She has a book in her hand. She walks over to the toilets and gets in._

 

**INSIDE THE RESTROOM**

 

_Élise closes the toilet lid and sits down on it. She lifts her shirt up and gets Eryka’s mobile phone out of a travel belt she is wearing under her shirt. She presses a few buttons on the phone and starts to turn pages in the book._

 

**EUROTUNNEL SHUTTLE TRAIN, INSIDE OF KARL’S CAR**

 

_Élise gets in._

 

KARL: _(pointing at her book, teasingly):_ Had a longer session…?

 

ÉLISE _(confused)_ : What…? _(She looks at the book and gets the joke.)_ Erm… No… I just...

 

_She stops talking because she can’t come up with a good explanation. After some moments:_

 

ÉLISE: Do you think we’ll get her?

 

KARL: Violetta Grigoryeva? Or whatever her real name might be…?  I don’t have very high hopes. If they find any leads to follow in Brussels, Stockholm or wherever I’m sure all of them have been carefully placed for us to find. None of those traces will lead us to who she really is. Our only hope is that she screwed up at some point and accidently left a real trace somewhere.

 

ÉLISE: But she... seems to be amazingly professional. It’s unlikely that she made a mistake.

 

KARL: You never know. Maybe she got careless at some point.

 

**SHOULDER CLOSE-UP OF ÉLISE**

 

_Élise stares tensed into space._

 

\------------------------

 

**THE ROEBUCK FAMILY’S LIVING ROOM, EVENING**

 

_Élise is sitting on the sofa. We hear voices from upstairs._

 

KARL’S VOICE _(shouting)_ : If you ever lie to us like that again, you will be grounded for a week!

 

GIRL’S VOICE: But I…

 

KARL’S VOICE ( _interrupting her_ ): Grounded for a week!

 

_Karls gets down the stairs; he still looks very angry. He lets himself fall into an armchair._

 

KARL: The joys of family life… Sorry about that…

 

ÉLISE: It’s ok…

 

KARL: Please do never tell them that I once taught you how to lie…

 

_Élise smiles._

 

ÉLISE: I won’t… And you only taught me to believably bring across one sentence. I’m still hopeless in other situations.

 

_Karl chuckles._

 

KARL: You want some more lessons?

 

_Élise smiles tiredly._

 

ÉLISE: Maybe...

 

KARL: You know, you should stick as close to the truth as possible and just change the details that really needs to be changed. And it’s important to not overdo it and to not get entangled in details. The simpler the story the more believably it gets…

 

ÉLISE ( _smiling tiredly)_ Thanks for your advice…

 

_Karl looks at her._

 

KARL: You really don’t look well, Élise. You should really talk to Eryka and clarify how things will go on with the two of you.

 

_Élise nods._

 

ÉLISE: Yes, I definitely should…

 

_She doesn't elaborate on that she has a lot more to clarify with Eryka than Karl can even imagine._

 

**BATHROOM IN KARL’S HOUSE**

 

_Élise, already dressed for the night, is just finishing to brush her teeth. She puts her toothbrush away. She is standing at the sink for a moment staring at herself in the mirror._

_A mobile phone beeps. Élise hastily gets the phone out of the travel belt that’s lying beside her toiletries bag. She looks at the display._

 

**GUEST ROOM IN KARL’S HOUSE**

 

_Élise rushes in, the mobile phone in her hand. She closes the door behind herself and sits down cross-legged on the bed. She takes the book from her night stand and starts to decipher the message she got on the phone._

 

\----------------------

 

**KITCHEN IN KARL’S HOUSE**

 

_Karl’s younger kids are getting ready for school or kindergarten, putting on their jackets and shoes. Karl helps the twins with the zip fasteners of their jackets. Laura is rushing the older ones._

 

LAURA: I told you to put on your shoes! I did NOT tell you to please discuss with me if you want to put on your shoes!

 

_Élise comes walking down the stairs in the background. She stops in the middle of the stairs, watching the chaos form a safe distance. Finally all kids seem to be ready and Laura is shooing them out of the door._

 

LAURA: Bye, see you tonight.

 

_Karl just lifts his hand. When the door has closed behind Laura and the kids Élise continues to walk down the stairs. Karl turns around to her._

 

KARL: Good morning! _(He points to the coffee machine.)_ Coffee?

 

ÉLISE: Yes, please.

 

_Karl gets a cup of coffee for her and himself. He takes a few step over to the stairs, shouting up:_

 

KARL: Maya, we’re leaving soon. If you want a ride to school you’ve got to hurry up!

 

_Karl balances the coffee cups over to the kitchen counter. Élise follows him._

 

\---------------------

 

**STREET IN FRONT OF MAYA’S SCHOOL**

 

_Karl gets Maya’s school bag out of the car boot and helps Maya to put it on her back. Élise is standing beside the car. Mike Anderson walks by and spots her._

 

MIKE: Hello, Commander…

 

ÉLISE _(hesitantly)_ : Hello…

 

Mike: Is there… anything new…?

 

ÉLISE: No… _(Thinking for a moment, hesitantly)_ It’s an ongoing investigation. We can’t tell you everything...

 

MIKE: I know. I understand… _(After a pause)_ You know… I thought, it would make things easier, if I knew what happened to her. But there are still so many questions, that...

Now I’m not even sure anymore if all the things I thought I did know about her were even true.

 

_Karl joins them after having kissed away his daughter._

 

ÉLISE: I’m sorry… We’ll let you know everything we can... As soon as we can...

 

_Mike nods slowly. Karl and Élise start to get back into the car._

 

_\----------------------_

 

**A TAXI STAND BESIDE THE KUNGSTRÄDGÅRDEN, STOCKHOLM**

 

_One of the not-named French police officers that took part in the meetings surrounding the polonium killings and a supposedly Swedish colleague are talking to one of the taxi drivers. In the background we see the Strömmen and the Royal Palace._

 

TAXI DRIVER ( _snorting_ ): Är det ett skämt?! Vet du hur mycket folk jag kör varje dag? Hur ska jag kommer ihåg just henne? (SUBTITLES: Is that a joke? How many people do you think I drive everyday? How am I supposed to remember her of all people?)

 

_The Swedish Police officer nods towards the taxi._

 

SWEDISH POLICE OFFICER: Jag antar att bilderna från övervakningskameran finns inte kvar? (SUBTITLES: I assume you don’t still have  the pictures of your security camera?)

 

TAXI DRIVER: Nej… Det var ju i Januari. Vi sparar bilderna bara till nästa dan. (SUBTITLES: No… That was in January. We only keep the pictures until the next day.)

 

_The French and the Swedish police officer look at each other discontentedly._

 

_The police officer gets a picture out of his pocket._

 

**CLOSE-UP OF THE PICTURE**

 

_It’s a printout of the pictures of the camera from the CCTV at the petrol station in France. It’s a grainy picture and the face of the person on the picture is hardly visible._

 

Cut back to the broader angle:

**THE TAXI STAND**

 

SWEDISH POLICE OFFICER: Känner du igen henne? SUBTITLES: Do you recognise her?)

 

_The driver looks at the picture and shakes his head._

 

TAXI DRIVER: Det kan ju vara vem som helst…! (SUBTITLES: This can be anyone…!

 

_The police officer sighs._

 

\---------------------

 

**EUROTUNNEL SHUTTLE TRAIN**

 

_Outside view of Karl’s car. Karl in the driver's seat. Élise in the passenger seat._

 

**INSIDE OF KARL’S CAR**

 

ÉLISE _(musingly):_ Officially we still don’t know that, but considering her name Anna Bērziņa is from Latvia, right?

 

_Karl nods._

 

KARL: Latvian secret service, I assume…

 

ÉLISE: She’s on the first tape when they questioned Mark Harris’ wife in London. So she was part of the investigation before they even knew that Inese Anderson had died.

 

KARL: She was investigating these murders and whatever it is that lies behind it, before it was even known the there was a Latvian victim.

 

ÉLISE: Exactly! She did NOT join this investigation to investigate Inese Andersons murder like Miller investigates Mark Harris’s poisoning and we are part of it because the victim died or lived in our range of authority respectively.

She has the overview; she coordinates the contact with the colleagues investigating the other murders...

Latvia must somehow be the center of all of this, even of the other murders that happened somewhere else.

 

KARL: It seems that way, yes.

 

 

\----------------------

 

**THE BAR OF A RESTAURANT**

 

_Through the windows in the background we see the Thames, Big Ben and the House of Parliament. We’re at the restaurant where Mark Harris and his daughter got poisoned._

_Certainly-not-Miller and a very tall British colleague are talking to the waitress who served Eryka in the first scenes._

 

WAITRESS: Me and my colleagues have all talked to you before. I already told you that I don’t know anything.

 

CERTAINLY-NOT-MILLER: We know now that we’re looking for a woman who sat - supposedly alone - at table 3. _(He points through the glass doors to the table Eryka was sitting at at the day Mark and Grace Harris were poisoned.)_ She had a Latte Macchiato. And according to the billing records you served her. Maybe that brings up any memories?

 

WAITRESS: We had so many customers that day. I’m not sure...

 

CERTAINLY-NOT-MILLER’S COLLEAGUE: But you have an idea whom we are talking about?

 

WAITRESS: I’m not sure...

 

CERTAINLY-NOT-MILLER: Tell us whatever you do remember. Anything might help. What did she look like? What kind of hair? How tall was she?

 

WAITRESS: I don’t know… _(hesitantly)_ As tall as I am, maybe…  Or as you are... _(She nods towards Certainly-not-Miller’s colleague who is pretty much a giant, while she herself is strikingly short.)_ Dark hair...? I think…?

 

 _She looks questioning at Certainly-not-Miller and his colleague like they must know if this was the right answer._ _Certainly-not-Miller sighs and shakes his head._

 

\----------------------

 

**ÉLISE’S OFFICE AT THE CALAIS POLICE STATION**

 

_Élise is sitting in front of her computer. Staring intensely at the screen. On the screen we see black and white CCTV footage. She fast-forwards for some seconds. Then stops again and watches in normal speed.  Karl knocks at the half open door. Élise nods to him to come in. He slumps himself into Élise’s visitor chair._

 

KARL: We’ve looked through hours of tape now. In London every square inch is covered by CCTV. She paid with her credit card at the restaurant on the Thames at 1:22 pm. She MUST have passed through one of these cameras when she walked away from there.

 

ÉLISE: We still don’t know what she really looks like. It might be that person… Or that person… _(She points randomly at some medium built female figures walking through the picture.)_ This is totally pointless!

 

_Karl shrugs his shoulders, totally agreeing but not really able to do anything about it._

 

\-----------------------

 

**STREET IN PARIS**

 

_Louise and a supposedly Parisian colleague are walking on the pavement of a busy street.  They stop at the entrance of a car rental company and walk inside._

 

**THE PREMISES OF THE CAR RENTAL COMPANY**

 

_Louise, her colleague and an employee of the rental company are sitting at a desk. In the background some other employees are talking to customers. Through the shop windows we see the Gare du Nord on the other side of the street ._

 

LOUISE: Elle était assise devant vous en remplissant le contrat de location de la voiture. Vous avez vérifié ses documents d'identité. Vous devez eu de la voir très bien. (SUBTITLES: She sat in front of you while she was filling out the rental contract. You checked her ID papers. You must have gotten a good look at her.)

 

EMPLOYEE: On a beaucoup de clients tous les jours. (SUBTITLES: There are so many customers each day.) _(She really seems to concentrate to remember.)_ Elle été plutôt petite, je pense. Pas très grande, voilà…de taille moyenne, peut-être… (SUBTITLES: She was pretty small I think… Not very tall anyway… Of medium height maybe…)

 

_On Louise’s and her colleague’s faces we can see how helpful that statements was._

 

PARISIAN COLLEAGUE: Autres choses? Couleur des cheveux? Des yeux? (SUBTITLES: Anything else? Hair colour? Eyes?)

 

EMPLOYEE: Elle était blonde…je pense… ou peut-être châtaigne clair? (SUBTITLES: She was blonde… I think… Or light brown hair maybe?)

 

_She realises that all of this isn’t very helpful._

 

EMPLOYEE: (cont’d): Pardonnez-moi…Je ne sais même-pas si je suis en train de penser à la bonne personne **...** (SUBTITLES: I’m sorry... I don’t even know if it’s the right person, I’m thinking of… _(After a pause)_ On va récupérer la voiture quand? (SUBTITLES: When will we get the car back?)

 

LOUISE: Je ne sais pas…la police scientifique est en train de l’examiner **.** (SUBTITLES: I don’t know. The forensics are still working on it.)

 

\---------------------

 

**A SIDE ROAD IN BRUSSELS**

 

_Phillippe and a supposedly Belgian colleague walk along a street. There seem to be several bars and pubs in this area of town with advertisements for different Belgian beer brands above their entrance doors. They walk into one of the bars._

 

**A TABLE INSIDE THE BAR**

 

_We recognize the interior form the flashback when Élise remembered being here with Eryka. There aren’t any customers in the bar yet. Apparently it’s still closed . Philippe and his colleague are sitting at a table with a man in white clothes, supposedly someone who works in the kitchen._

 

CHEF: Bon, Il y a parfois quelqu’un qui se perd en route pour les toilettes, mais d’habitude nous faisons les sortir ou ils partent dès qu’ils réalisent d’être dans la cuisine. Je ne pense pas qu’ils auront une chance de toucher les plats inaperçus. (SUBTITLES: We sometimes do have people who get lost on the way to the toilet or something, but they usually turn around or get sent out as soon as they realised they ended up in the kitchen. I don’t think  they’d find the possibility to unobserved mess with the food.)

 

PHILIPPE: Est-ce qu’il y a aucun autre moyen pour quelqu’un de mettre quelque chose dans le plat d’un client ? (SUBTITLES: Is there any other way someone could put something into a guest’s food?)

 

CHEF: Je ne sais pas. Quelquefois on laisse les assiettes dans le passe-plat quand les serveurs sont occupés. (SUBTITLES: I don’t know. Sometimes the food is standing in the service hatch for a moment when the waiter is busy.) _(He points at a hatch between the seating area and the kitchen.)_ Mais je pense qu’il ne passerait pas inobservée si quelqu’un qui ne travaille pas ici touchait les plats là-bas. (SUBTITLES: But I think it still wouldn’t get unnoticed when someone who doesn’t work here would start fumbling with the food there.)

 

PHILLIPE’S COLLEAGUE: Et ça ne s’est pas passée ce soir-là? (SUBTITLES: And nothing like that  happened at that evening?)

 

CHEF: Il y a six mois donc je ne peux pas vous rien dire de cette particulière soirée **.** (SUBTITLES: That was half a year ago, so I really can’t tell you anything about that specific evening.)

 

\------------------------

 

**TEMPORARY OFFICE OF CERTAINLY-NOT-MILLER AND CERTAINLY-NOT-BĒRZIŅA**

 

_Certainly-not-Bērziņa is sitting at her desk. Olivier, Karl and Élise are standing, looking at the white board where all the victims they know about have been collected._

 

_There is a new name on it. A French person who apparently died in Moscow in April, nobody comments on that, apparently Élise and Karl got informed about this new victim earlier on._

 

OLIVER: BB just called from Warsaw: As with all the others nobody there can tell us anything.

 

KARL _(angrily)_ : So, we have been working on this for over a week now; we’ve spread our people through half of the continent and we still don’t have anything to connect this Violetta-Grigorjeva-person to whoever she really might be.

 

OLIVIER: She is a phantom.

Most of the murders happened too long ago for any witnesses to remember anything or for any CCTV footage to be left. On the footage we do have she’s no more than a blurry shadow. From the witnesses who do seem to remember something, we have two descriptions of her as being dark haired and one of her being blonde. The statements concerning her approximate height vary from 1,60 to 1,90 meters. We don’t know anything other about her than that occasionally she leaves a credit card payment and some polonium somewhere in Europe and then vanishes into thin air.

 

_Élise listens to him with a stoney face._

 

ÉLISE: Did Louise get any results about the car? Did they find any radioactivity in there?

 

OLIVIER: They checked it. There seem to be no traces.

 

CERTAINLY-NOT-BĒRZIŅA _(voice-over)_ : We still don’t know if that means that she transported the polonium in some other way or if this assassin is just much more skilled than Litvinenko’s murderers used to be.

 

**SHOULDER CLOSE-UP OF ÈLISE**

 

_Élise thinks concentratedly. Her mind seems to be somewhere else. She’s only half-listening now._

_She looks up._

 

ÉLISE: Erm… I’m… I need to… My father is sick. I have to go and take care of some things for a few days.

 

Cut to the broader angle:

**TEMPORARY OFFICE OF CERTAINLY-NOT-MILLER AND CERTAINLY-NOT-BĒRZIŅA**

 

OLIVIER (surprised): Oh… I’m sorry… I hope it’s nothing serious?

 

ÉLISE: No… But I think it’s better for me to be there anyway.

 

KARL _(frowning)_ : Since when do you know?

 

ÉLISE: I got the call yesterday evening.

 

KARL _(surprised)_ : Why didn’t you tell me?

 

ÉLISE: I thought I shouldn’t leave the investigation and I wouldn’t go anyway. But now it seems that I don’t need… there is not much we can do right now anyway, can we?

 

OLIVIER: No, probably not.

 

_Élise nods._

 

**ÉLISE’S OFFICE AT THE CALAIS POLICE STATION**

 

_Élise puts on her jacket and takes her travel bag that she had with her when she stayed with Karl. Karl slowly follows her into her office._

 

KARL: Bye, I hope your Dad will be ok soon.

 

_Élise walks towards the door. She turns around once more._

 

ÉLISE: Yes, thanks...

 

_She turns around and walks away. Karl looks after her frowningly._

 

**PARKING PLACE IN FRONT OF THE CALAIS POLICE STATION**

 

_Élise walks towards her car._

 

**INSIDE OF ÉLISE’S CAR**

 

_Élise throws her bag and her backpack onto the passenger seat. For a few seconds she stares out of the front window clenching the steering wheel._

_Finally she takes a breath and starts the engine._

 

\------------------------

**A TABLE INSIDE THE BAR IN BRUSSELS**

 

_Philippe and the Belgian colleague are sitting alone at the table at which they talked to the chef previously. There are some people at other tables now. But it’s still pretty empty because it’s still just early evening._

 

BELGIAN COLLEAGUE: Si elle mettait quelque chose dans l’assiette dans la cuisine ou avant que la bouffe fût serve, enfin elle ne pouvait pas être sûre c’était son plat, n’est pas ?  Je pense c’est plus probable que s’est passée après que le plat a été servé. (SUBTITLES: If she spiked the food in the kitchen or before it was served she could not have been sure that it really was his meal anyway, couldn’t she? I think it’s more likely that it happened after it had been served already.)

 

PHILIPPE: Peut-être…on pourrait visiter la copine de Henrik Jason quand on aura fini ici. Peut-être qu’elle se souvient quelque chose. (SUBTITLES: Maybe… We should pay Henrik Janson’s girlfriend a visit, when we’re finished here. Maybe she remembers something.)

 

_A woman approaches the table hastily. We recognise the waitress who served Élise and Eryka at the evening Élise remembered in the flashback. She sits down._

 

WAITRESS: Paula Girard... Désolé de vous faire attendre. (SUBTITLES: Paula Girard... Sorry to keep you waiting.)

 

A little later:

**STILL THE TABLE INSIDE THE BAR**

 

_Paula is holding a piece of paper in her hand and looking at it._

 

PAULA: Oui, le table 5 est dans ma section. Donc je suppose que j’ai servie elle. (SUBTITLES: Yes, table 5 is in my section. So I suppose I did serve her.)

 

PHILIPPE: Est-ce que vous pouvez nous dire à quoi elle ressemblait ? Vous vous rappelez de quelque détail? (SUBTITLES: Can you tell us what she might have looked like? Do you remember anything in particular?)

 

PAULA: Non…Je veux dire, Il a passé beaucoup des temps. Il y a centaines de personnes ici chaque soir. (SUBTITLES: No… I mean this was months ago. There are hundreds of people here every evening.)

 

BELGIAN COLLEAGUE: Elle été probablement assise seule. Selon l’addition on a reçu de votre boss elle mangeait pasta au poulet et des frites. Est-ce que ça vous dit quelque chose? Ça aide votre mémoire...? (SUBTITLES: She probably sat alone. According to that print out your boss got us from the register she had pasta with chicken and a serving of chips. Does that somehow ring a bell... help your memory…?)

 

 _PAULA (shaking her head)_ : Non, je suis désolée. --- Toutefois, je ne crois pas elle été seule. Les frites sont marquées sur l’addition comme plat principal, pas comme plat d’accompagnement. (SUBTITLES: No, I’m sorry. _(She looks down at the print out again.)_ Though… I don’t think she was alone. This is order code is chips as a main course not as a side order.)

 

BELGIAN COLLEAGUE _(not really attaching too much importance to this)_ : Ok...

 

_Philippe gets a calling card out of his pocket and gives it to Paula._

 

PHILIPPE: Si vous vous rappelez de quelque chose appelez-moi s’il vous plait. N’importe quoi pourrait nous aider. (SUBTITLES: If you remember anything else please give us a call. Anything might be helpful.)

 

\---------------------

 

**A DUNE LANDSCAPE WITH A HOLIDAY HOUSE AT THE COAST**

 

_Dunes overgrown by beachgrass. Élise’s car drives on a small path which ends in a small area at the foot of a dune. Another car with Belgian license plates is already parked there. A wooden stairway is leading up to a grey-painted wooden house up on the dune._

 

**INSIDE ÉLISE’S CAR**

 

_Élise stops the engine and looks up at the house a little surprised._

 

**TERRACE BEHIND THE HOUSE**

 

_The terrace is overlooking the dunes, the beach and the sea. There is a wooden bench along the wall of the house. In front of it a garden table. On the other side of the table across from the bench a few garden chairs._

_Eryka is standing at the railing of the terrace looking out over the sea. Élise is getting up the stairs that end on the terrace. She is carrying her backpack and a small travel back. When Eryka hears Élise’s steps she slowly turns around. Élise stops a few meters away from her. For a moment they just look at each other, both insecure of what to say now. Finally:_

 

ERYKA: Hi…

  
Élise swallows.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know what you think!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again: I'd like to read your thoughts on this chapter! Every comment makes my day!

**TERRACE BEHIND THE HOUSE IN THE DUNES**

 

_When Eryka hears Élise’s steps she slowly turns around. Élise stops a few meters away from her. For a moment they just look at each other, both insecure of what to say now. Finally:_

 

ERYKA: Hi…

 

_Élise swallows. Eryka is looking at her insecurely, waiting for what's to come._

 

ÉLISE: So… Polonium, eh? _(angrily)_ Are you out of your FUCKING mind!?

 

ERYKA: How was I supposed to know, that she would...

 

ÉLISE _(interrupting her)_ : So you think the only problem with this is that it ended up on my desk?!

 

ERYKA _(getting upset herself now)_ : Élise, look… I’m sorry I put you in a situation like this, but you know who I am… That I do stuff like this can’t be such a surprise to you…

 

_Élise stares at her angrily. She knows Eryka is right but doesn’t really want to admit it._

 

ÉLISE: But… how can you…!? Even if Inese Anderson would not have died in Calais… You killed Henrik Jansson when I was with you! You came to my flat just a few hours after you poisoned Mark Harris! _(After a pause)_ How much of that stuff ended up in my bed?

ERYKA: Nothing of course! I know what I’m doing!

 

ÉLISE (sarcastically): You do?

 

ERYKA _(softly):_ Do you seriously think I’d take any risk to harm you, Élise?!

 

ÉLISE ( _agitatedly)_ : The last time the Russians used that stuff to kill one of their opponents they left a radioactive trail throughout half of Europe. According to what I’ve learned in the last days, it’s almost impossible to safely handle that stuff if you don’t work with very elaborate security measures. I highly doubt that you just low-keyly unpacked the necessary equipment from your handbag in the middle of a restaurant before you spiked Mark Hamilton’s soup…?!

 

ERYKA: Litvinenko was… a testrun… The method has significantly evolved since 2006. Otherwise I wouldn’t do this! Aside from the fact that I wouldn’t hurt you I’m not suicidal!

 

ÉLISE: How?

 

ERYKA: I don’t handle loose polonium powder anymore. A procedure has been developed to pack it into little dragees. It completely dissolves within about 30 seconds when you put it in liquid. So it still has the full effect, but the dust doesn’t get everywhere anymore. ( _Talking almost enthusiasticly now about this great invention.)_ The sugar-coating makes it really much easier to handle!

 

_Élise laughs out loud._

 

ÉLISE _(sarcastically)_ : I suppose it looks like little Mini Smarties…?

 

ERYKA ( _surprised_ ): Yes… a little actually… Just without the colours… The shell even shields the radiation. It’s totally safe to handle that way. It first becomes a poison when you put it where it’s supposed to do its work.

 

_Élise looks at her inquiringly._

 

ÉLISE: Are you… proud of this?

 

_Eryka looks out over the sea for a moment._

 

ERYKA: Whatever you think about this in general... You have to admit that for its purpose the method really IS genius.

 

_They stare at each other for a few seconds. Élise still looks very angry._

 

ERYKA _(softly)_ : Henrik Jansson was supposed to go to that bar with his girlfriend the night before you came to Brussels. But for some reason they had to reschedule. We hadn’t seen each other for so long and you could only squeeze in that one day vacation… So I didn’t want to cancel on you and I didn’t want to leave you alone at the hotel on our only evening together. _(She hesitates for a moment, then continues hesitantly.)_ And he needed to be dead as soon as possible, so I couldn’t wait much longer...

 

_Élise shakes her head in disbelieve._

 

ÉLISE: I really don’t have normal people's expectations concerning “dates”... But to be taken along for one of your killings…?!

 

ERYKA: It didn’t intervene very much with our evening, did it?

 

ÉLISE: What would have happened if you’d have gotten caught?

 

ERYKA: I don’t get caught…

 

_Élise seems to slowly get a little calmer._

 

ÉLISE: Yes, apparently you don’t…

 

_She looks at Eryka pondering. Her mood slowly shifts from anger to involuntary admiration and maybe even proudness of her girlfriend’s professionalism._

 

ÉLISE (cont’d): You know... I wasn’t sure if I should come. I felt that I should keep an eye on the investigation to know if we’d get on to you so that I could warn you. But it’s pretty obvious now that there aren’t any traces other than the ones that Violetta Grigorieva intentionally left for us to find.

 

_Eryka gets a few steps closer to Élise._

 

ERYKA _(softly)_ : I already told you on the phone: You don’t need to back me up. It’s all worked out perfectly.

 

_They are both standing at the railing now. Still about a meter of distance between them._

 

ERYKA _(softly,_ cont’d): I think it’s good that you got away from the investigation...

 

_Élise turns to look out over the sea._

 

ÉLISE _(hesitantly, still not looking at Eryka)_ : I can’t pretend to hope for results in the investigation when in reality the last thing I want is for you to get caught...

 

ERYKA _(softly,_ cont’d): This will soon be over, Élise. They will realise that Violetta Grigorieva is a dead end. When you get back in a few days they will already withdraw personnel from the investigation because they know it’s pointless anyway and you can get assigned to another case.

 

ÉLISE: Yes, I suppose so…

 

_Eryka gets another step closer to Élise. They are standing side by side at the railing now. Looking out over the beach and the sea together._

 

ÉLISE _(not looking at Eryka)_ : Mark Harris lost consciousness this morning. He is on life support. They could have been able to save him, but he refused treatment because he feels responsible for his daughter’s death. He is going to die soon.

 

ERYKA _(not looking at Élise, with a stoney face)_ : That was the point. He was supposed to die.

 

ÉLISE _(looking at Eryka now)_ : His daughter wasn’t…

 

ERYKA: No, she wasn’t...

 

_Eryka still stares out over the ocean pretending to not realise that Élise is intensely watching her._

 

_\----------------------_

 

**LIVING ROOM OF THE HOLIDAY HOME, EVENING**

 

_There is a sofa, an armchair and a coffee table. In the background, separated from the living room by a kitchen counter, we see the kitchen area. To the right there is a steep stairway leading to a loft-like area above the kitchen, supposedly the bedroom._

_To the left there is the entrance door and and beside it a large panorama window. The drapes of that window are closed now._

_In the corner there's a fire place with a fire inside._

_Eryka is kneeling in front of the fireplace putting in new wood.  Élise comes down the stairs from the bedroom. She stops a few meters away from the fireplace and watches Eryka. Eryka puts the last pieces of wood inside and closes the door. She gets up._

_They look at each other. The atmosphere is still tense even if they are not openly fighting anymore._

 

ERYKA (softly): I’m sorry, Élise!

 

ÉLISE _(after a few seconds, abruptly)_ : Are you going to resign?

 

ERYKA: Yes…

 

_Élise seems surprised about this definite answer._

 

ÉLISE: For sure…?

 

ERYKA: Yes! I told my superiors last week.

 

ÉLISE: Ok… _(She thinks for a moment. Her mind obviously working intensely.)_ So… What will you do now? How will you… Can you just resign with the Russian secret service?

 

ERYKA: Of course you can. There are certain procedures to quit such a job, though. There are some safety assessments going on right now to see what my options are… I suppose I’ll know more by the end of the week.

 

\----------------------

 

**THE ROEBUCK FAMILY’S LIVING ROOM**

 

_Karl is slouching on the sofa wearing his reading glasses. A lot of folders and papers on the coffee table in front of him. He is reading a paper._

_The floor of the living room looks like a toy bomb has exploded. Laura is picking up some toys and throws them into a big toy box. When she has picked up the biggest mess, she walks over to Karl._

 

LAURA _(nodding towards the papers on the table)_ : Do you think you’ll get her...?

 

_Karl looks up at her and shakes his head._

 

KARL: I’m not very optimistic… _(pointing at the papers on the table)_ We already went through all of that stuff . I’m just rechecking, in case we missed something… It’s our only hope right now, because we got nothing new we could work with.

 

LAURA: Good luck… I’m going to bed.

 

_She bows down to Karl. They kiss and Laura walks up the stairs. Karl looks at the paper again._

 

**CLOSE-UP OF A PRINT OUT OF THE MAIL WITH ATTACHMENTS ÉLISE GOT FROM THE CAR RENTAL COMPANY IN PARIS**

 

_It’s three pages that are stapled together._

_We see a copy of the rental contract with the name of the customer: Violetta Grigoryeva._

_Karl turns the page. It’s the receipt when the car was returned with the same name._

_He turns the pages back to the first page: The text of the mail to which the contract and the receipt had been attached._

_The camera slowly zooms in to the header of the email and focuses on the date and time the email was received. It’s 10:24 am._

 

Cut back to:

**KARL ON THE SOFA**

 

_He frowns. He takes off his glasses and seems to think intensively._

 

_He takes up his phone. He hesitates for a moment then he dials._

 

ÉLISE’S VOICE _(through the phone)_ : Commander Élise Wassermann, Brigade Criminelle. Actuellement, je ne peux pas vous répondre. Laissez-moi un message. (SUBTITLES: I can’t take your call right now. Leave a message.)

 

KARL: Élise, I… um… _(He hesitates.)_ Please call me back!

 

_He ends the call and keeps sitting on the sofa, still frowning and thinking intensively._

 

\----------------------

 

Cut back to:

**LIVING ROOM OF THE HOLIDAY HOME**

 

_Élise and Eryka are sitting on the sofa, facing each other. The atmosphere is a lot more comfortable after Eryka’s announcement._

 

ERYKA: Officially Eryka Klein was only a suspect or maybe even just a person of interest concerning a plane crash a few years ago. The French and British secret service will be hanged to spill the beans about a deal they themselves were involved in. They are probably going to keep an eye on me for some time if I’d reemerge to make sure I’m really not working for the Russians again, but they won’t arrest me. Officially they've got nothing on me.

 

It’s actually not the secret services but Baturin and his organisation we have to be concerned about. He would certainly still want to take revenge for having been turned in with the police if he ever got the chance.

 

ÉLISE _(sounding slightly disappointed)_ : So you will still have to hide and live with a secret identity once you quit?

 

ERYKA: That’s what they’re trying to assess right now. You know that I’ve been a lot less particular about all our security measures recently than before? It seems that his network has been taken over by a competitor by now and that he doesn’t have any people on the outside anymore.

 

ÉLISE: So if they can verify that…?

 

ERYKA: To build a fake identity with the according documents and certificates is a tremendous effort. Not to mention for me to learn and get used to live the backstory of that person. You can never be sure to not blunder one day. It’s much easier to live with your own, real-life backstory - especially if it’s what you are going to live with for the rest of your life. So if there is no immediate necessity to stay hidden you always go back to your real identity when you retire. I will probably be Eryka Klein again and will be free to do whatever I want... _(She looks at Élise questioning.) ..._ whatever WE want…

 

_The question hangs in the air. There was never the option of a future together, so they never thought let alone talked about what they’d want if there was the possibility. They look at each other, both slightly insecure: Not really having figured out yet what they want themselves and certainly not sure what the other one wants and if their expectations will match. After some time:_

 

ERYKA: We don’t have to decide anything right now. But we have all the possibilities.

 

_They both seem very happy with that prospect. Élise reaches out and puts her hand in Eryka’s hair. They start kissing._

 

\---------------------

 

**OPEN SPACE OFFICE AT THE POLICE STATION IN KENT**

 

_There is a whiteboard with the names of the victims and the dates of the deaths and poisonings here as well. Karl is standing in front of the white board looking at the names and dates pondering. BB gets in._

 

BB: Morning!

 

KARL: Morning… Say,... Do you remember when Élise told us that she heard back from the rental company in Paris?

 

BB: About Violetta Grigoryeva? Tuesday, I think?

 

KARL: Yes, but at what time?

 

BB: I don’t know… It was in the afternoon, wasn’t it? After she came back from whatever she had to do in her lunch break…?

 

KARL: Yeah, I thought so, too…

 

BB: Why do you ask?

 

KARL _(abstracted)_ : Nothing… Nothing…

 

_BB walks on. We see him sit down at a desk in the background. Karl is still looking at the whiteboard, thinking intensively. He slowly gets a tattered pocket diary out of his back pocket and turns a few pages._

 

**CLOSE-UP OF THE DIARY**

 

_“Élise” is scribbled at the rim of two days of the week Karl has opened._

_Karl turns a few pages. Again three days of the week he opened are marked “Élise”._

 

Cut back to:

**KARL**

 

_He looks at the list of the murders again and and then turns a few pages in the diary again._

 

**CLOSE-UP OF THE DIARY**

 

_Again he turns a few pages. Again Élise’s name appears._

_If you have paid attention to the dates we saw before on the whiteboard, you realise that several of the murders happened around the dates he was supposed to cover for Élise because she was seeing Eryka or in the case of the death in Brussels even during the days she was gone._

 

Cut back to:

**KARL**

 

KARL _(mumbling)_ : Fuck me!

 

_\----------------------_

 

**CLOSE-UP OF ERYKA’S FACE**

 

_She's in bed, catching her breath, her eyes closed. Élise appears in the picture, crawling up from the lower part of the bed, looking quite content with herself. She props up on one arm, smilingly watching Eryka calm down._

 

Cut to the broader angle:

**BEDROOM IN THE HOLIDAY HOME**

 

_The bedroom in the loft-area above the kitchen. It’s a very small room. Below the low roof there is not much more space than for a double bed. In the background we see a rooflight through which we can see the sea in the background. It’s cloudy and considering the waves that we can see on the ocean it seems to be pretty stormy._

_Eryka opens her eyes and smiles at Élise._

 

ERYKA: Yes, it would definitely be nice to see each other more often…

 

ÉLISE _(smiling)_ : Well, chances seem to be pretty good for that, don’t they…?

 

_Eryka nods._

 

ERYKA: Yes, indeed. _(Getting serious.)_

 

_Élise nestles beside her. They’re lying close to each other, facing each other._

 

ERYKA: Do you remember, when I told you yesterday that I would not have taken the risk to work with loose polonium powder?

 

ÉLISE: Yes…?

 

ERYKA: You know… before I met you I think I would have done it if someone would have instructed me to. Now I would refuse. _(She runs her finger through Élise’s hair.)_ I don’t want this to end because I accidentally inhale some radioactive dust.

 

_Élise smiles and kisses her._

 

\-----------------------

 

**INSIDE THE BAR IN BRUSSELS**

 

_There are already some customers, but it’s still pretty empty around lunchtime._

_Paula, the waitress that served Élise and Eryka many months ago and that Philippe and his Belgian colleague recently talked to, is carrying a tray with some salt and pepper shakers and some small bottles of tabasco. She puts the tray down on a worktop behind the bar ._

_She starts to fill up the salt shakers from a bigger pack of salt._

_Then she takes a bigger bottle of tabasco and starts to refill the small bottles she collected from the tables._

_Suddenly she falters. She thinks for a moment. She puts the bottle down and takes a tea towel and slowly wipes off her hands. Then she takes the calling card Phillippe gave her out of the pocket of her apron and looks at it for moment. After a moment of hesitation she walks over to a phone that’s lying on the counter and starts to dial a number._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know what you think!


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took some time to write, because there was a lot going on concerning family, work and other hobbies in the last weeks.  
> Additionally to that I had to start pretty much from the scratch with this part of the story, while I already used to have a lot drafted of the previous chapters. There’s a lot in stack already for how the story will continue, so chances are good that the next chapters will follow soon.
> 
> Thanks to everyone who commented and left kudos on previous chapters! You are the reason why I continue to write this!  
> Please let me know what you think of this chapter! Every comment makes my day!
> 
> Philippe and everyone in Brussels are obviously supposed to speak French with each other. I didn’t have the time yet to get a translation of those parts, and I didn’t want to let you wait even longer. I will add the translation when it’s ready. Until then just imagine it being in French with English subtitles.

**A PATH BETWEEN THE DUNES**

 

_ Élise and Eryka walk hand in hand. A middle aged couple comes their way. Élise lets go of Eryka’s hand when the other people come in sight. Eryka determinately takes her hand again. They casually nod towards the man and the woman when they pass them. _

_ After they got out of earshot: _

 

ÉLISE: What about your “rule” to not do anything that could make people pay attention to us and remember us?

 

ERYKA: To not have to hide anymore was kind of the point with resigning in the first place. I’m very sure, that I’ll get the heads up concerning Baturin soon. And then I’ll reemerge anyway. 

It will cause some hectic activity with the French secret service when they find out that I’m back but after they made sure that I’m not active anymore they’ll probably calm down at some point. So if someone remembers us so they find out that I was here with you or if they first become aware that I’m back in two weeks or something doesn’t really matter.

  
  


_ They reach the wooden stairs that lead up to their house. While they walk up the stairs: _

 

ÉLISE:  I have colleagues who know under what circumstances we first met. Karl and Olivier might not know what exactly you did, but they still know that you were involved with the Russians in some way and that you disappeared. If you actually settle in Calais with me, what is going to be our story for them?

 

**TERRACE BEHIND THE CABIN**

 

ERYKA: The most believable story is always the one that sticks as close to the truth as possible.

 

_ Élise smiles. _

 

ÉLISE: I’ve heard that one before…

 

_ They get to the door of the cabin. Eryka unlocks the door and they get in. _

  
  


_ \----------------------- _

 

**THE POLICE STATION IN BRUSSELS**

 

_ Philippe walks towards his desk. Taking off his jacket he takes up a note from his desk and reads it. He sits down at his desk, takes up the receiver of his phone and dials a number. _

  
  


**STAIRWAYS IN THE POLICE STATION IN BRUSSELS**

 

_ Phillippe and his Belgian colleague are walking down the stairs. _

 

PHILIPPE:  She sometimes works a second job in the kitchen of a hotel to earn some extra money. She remembered that there was a woman sitting at the table in question in the bar one evening who put an unusual amount of tabasco on the chips she ordered. She was there together with another woman, so it fits with the fact that Violetta Grigorjevas credit card payed for two meals.

A day later when Paula worked her second job at the hotel they got an order for chips from the room service that should be served with a bottle of tabasco.

She had just broken up with her boyfriend at that time and he had a thing for spicy food too, so it stuck to her mind.

She isn’t entirely sure if it really was the evening Violetta Grigorjeva and Henrik Jansson were at the bar, but it must have been around that time. ...and since we’re desperate and don’t have any other leads it’s worth a shot.

 

_ They have gotten down the stairway now and get out of the front entrance. _

  
  


**PARKING-PLACE IN FRONT OF THE POLICE STATION IN BRUSSELS**

 

BELGIAN COLLEAGUE: It would be a big coincidence though. Many people like spicy food.

 

PHILIPPE: Yes, but since Violetta Grigorjeva obviously knows what she’s doing, coincidences is all we can hope for. But you’re right of course, this doesn’t have to mean anything.  _ (He chuckles.) _ I’ve also got a colleague who puts half a bottle of tabasco on everything…

 

_ They get to their car. _

 

BELGIAN COLLEAGUE  _ (jokingly) _ : Maybe it’s your colleague…

 

PHILIPPE  _ (grinning) _ : Yeah, right… maybe…

 

_ He opens the door of the car and they get in. _

  
  


_ \----------------------- _

 

**SOFA IN THE LIVING ROOM OF THE HOLIDAY HOME**

 

_ Élise and Eryka are sitting on the sofa, both holding a cup of tea. _

 

ERYKA: It’s not illegal to work for a secret service. It’s not even illegal to work in a different country for a foreign secret service. The French and British official version of how they got Baturin is that they got information from the Russians - namely me - that led to his arrest. They sell it as an achievement of a cooperation of the Russian and the western secret services, which technically it was. Considering their reputation they just fail to mention what I was working on in France otherwise.

 

ÉLISE: So if someone asks it will actually be part of your story, that you worked for the Russians?

 

ERYKA: Yes, without going into details of what exactly I did, of course, aside from providing the French and the British with information to be able to arrest Baturin. As you pointed out there are enough people who know it anyway so it would just raise suspicion about the rest of my story if they realize an inconsistency from the beginning.

 

ÉLISE: If you did nothing illegal, what will be your story of why you disappeared?

 

ERYKA: I’ll stick with what’s partly true: I had to disappear because Baturin’s people might have tried to take revenge for his arrest. That’s why the Russians provided me with a new, secret identity like any Western secret service would do as well if they had to protect an informant or former employee.

 

ÉLISE: But you’ll leave out the part where you used that new identity not just to hide yourself from Baturin but to continue to spy for the Russians…

 

ERYKA: Exactly…

 

ÉLISE: What’s our version of how we got together?

 

ERYKA: I suppose some people know anyway what went on between us back then?

 

ÉLISE: Karl does… I’m not sure about the others. I suppose they had their suspicions. 

 

ERYKA: It’s not illegal to get involved with someone who you met during an investigation, isn’t it?

 

ÉLISE: As long as it doesn’t influence your handling of the case… 

 

ERYKA: Which, since at the end of the day I was just the next of kin of one of the victims of the plane crash, it didn’t, did it?

 

_ For Eryka the only concern here seems to be if the story they’re going to tell is believable. Élise seems still to be very much aware of the fact that her involvement with Eryka was indeed pretty problematic, but she has decided to ignore that several years ago and is determined to continue to do so. _

 

ÉLISE _ : _ Well… Yes… For all anyone knows…

 

ERYKA: We can stick pretty close to the truth here as well: We fell in love during the investigation but had to separate because I had to disappear. We started seeing each other again after some time. We had to meet in secret, because I was hiding from Baturin. Now that Baturin doesn’t seem to pose a threat anymore we don’t need to hide anymore. 

 

_ Élise nods hesitantly.  _

 

ERYKA (cont’d _ , softly):  _ This is the story I will have to go with, because it’s the only one that gives me the possibility to not have to live in hiding for the rest of my life. There is nothing that can officially be a problem for you - you haven’t broken any laws - but of course it might cause some rumours when a French police officer has a secret affair with a Russian secret service agent, even if no one knows what exactly I did. I don’t want to cause you any trouble or harm your reputation… It is your decision whether you want to be a part of this or not.

 

_ Élise looks at her musingly for some seconds.  _

 

ÉLISE: I want to!  _ (laughing sarcastically)  _ People have been talking about how weird I am for all of my life.  A lesbian affair with a Russian spy can hardly add much to that...

 

_ Élise and Eryka smile at each other. _

 

ÉLISE: What will you tell when someone asks where you were and what you did during the time you disappeared?

 

ERYKA: I’ll tell that I can’t disclose that for security reasons. I’m sure even the Western secret services don’t disclose their strategies when they have to hide their people. I don’t think anyone will find it very surprising that I won’t talk about any details.

 

_ They sit in silence for some time. _

 

ÉLISE: Will you tell me at some point?

 

_ Eryka doesn’t answer right away. She seems to think about Élise’s request. _

 

ÉLISE (cont’d): You’re living in Latvia, aren’t you?

 

ERYKA  _ (very calm, not shocked that Élise knows this more interested in how she found out) _ : Why do you think that?

 

ÉLISE: I saw the names on your passports and I suppose one of them must be the main identity you’re living with right now. The Latvian secret service is leading the investigation on the Polonium murders, so I just assumed that the centre of all of this must somehow be located in Latvia. I just put two and two together.

 

ERYKA  _ (nodding slowly) _ : I’m in Riga… most of the time at least.

 

ÉLISE: What exactly are you doing there? What are all these murders about?

 

_ Eryka looks at her hesitantly for some moments. _

 

ERYKA: I still think it’s better for your own security, if you don’t know anything about it.

 

_ Élise doesn’t seem too happy about this answer, but doesn’t insist on further details. _

 

ÉLISE: Doesn’t it worry you that they obviously know where the strings are pulled from? Doesn’t that mean that they’re on your heels?

 

ERYKA: No… I’m in a position where they did a very detailed background check before they let me have that job. Apparently there was nothing that didn’t add up. I suppose that they already frantically checked and rechecked everyone who’s in a position that he could be involved in this but they didn’t find anything. The people who provided me with this identity knew what they’re doing.

I will officially end the job there and have a totally unsuspicious story of why I’m going to leave Riga. If they didn’t make the connection up to now, it’s very unlikely that they ever will.

 

ÉLISE  _ (still a little worried):  _ I hope you’re right...

 

ERYKA _ (softly) _ : It’ll be over soon, Élise! I’ll quit! THIS is what it’s going to be like from now on! You and I together! No secrets, no murders, no spies! Just you and me!

  
  


\-----------------------

 

**AN OFFICE**

 

_ Some shelves with filing folders at the walls. A desk in the middle of the room. Two visitor chairs in front of the desk. _

_ A man in a suit and tie is sitting behind a desk. Philippe and his Belgian colleague in front of the desk. The man is typing on a computer, looking for something. _

MAN ( _ Belgian accent):  _ These days all of our reservations and orders are saved digitally of course. So it must all be in here. Which date was it you said?

 

BELGIAN COLLEAGUE: 6th of April

 

_ The man types a little on the computer and scans through the information on the screen. _

 

MAN: Yes, here we are. Room 124 ordered a serving of chips for lunch. Special request: A bottle of Tabasco.

 

_ Philippe and his colleague seem almost excited. _

 

PHILIPPE: Who was that room booked to?

 

_ The man hits two keys on the keyboard. _

 

MAN: A Kristina Hamann. Latvian citizen. Her home address is in Riga.

 

PHILIPPE  _ (mumbling) _ : Kristina Hamann…

 

MAN: Does that name mean anything to you?

 

_ Philippe shakes his head. _

 

PHILIPPE: No… Did she stay in the room on her own?

 

MAN: No, the room was booked for two people. They also always ordered food for two people.

 

BELGIAN COLLEAGUE: Do you have the name of the second person?

 

_ The man shakes his head. _

 

MAN: No…  _ (He strikes a few keys.) _ Though… The room was payed for in the end with a French credit card of an Élise Wassermann. _ (He looks up at Philippe and his colleague.) _ Maybe that was the second person?

 

_ Philippe looks startled. The Belgian colleague looks at him. _

 

BELGIAN COLLEAGUE: Do you know that name?

 

PHILIPPE: Yes, I do…

  
  


\-------------------------------

 

**A CONFERENCE ROOM IN THE POLICE STATION IN KENT**

 

_ Karl, Olivier, Louise, the colleague who was in Sweden and Certainly-Not-Miller are sitting around the table. They all look shocked. Nobody says anything. Finally: _

_ (During the following conversation Karl is looking very uncomfortable. He knows a lot of stuff he isn’t supposed to know.) _

 

LOUISE: Maybe it’s not her? Maybe there is another Élise Wassermann who was in Brussels? There might be two people with that name?

 

THE-COLLEAGUE-WHO-WAS-IN-SWEDEN: It is her credit card. It’s registered with her address in Dunkerque and her date of birth.

 

LOUISE: Maybe Élise stayed in Brussels with this Kristina Hamann - whoever that is - during the weekend when Henrik Larsson was killed but maybe Kristina Hamann isn’t Violetta Grigorieva and it wasn’t Élise who was at the bar and ate the chips with tabasco? There might have been more than one person with a fondness for food like that in Brussels that weekend? It could all just be a coincidence.

 

_ While she talks the door behind her opens and  _ _ Certainly-not-Bērziņa gets in hastily. She’s carrying some papers and a laptop. _

 

CERTAINLY-NOT-BĒRZIŅA: It isn’t a coincidence!

 

KARL _ (looking up) _ : How can you be so sure?

 

_ Certainly-not-Bērziņa puts the laptop and the papers down on the table and sits down at the table. _

 

CERTAINLY-NOT-BĒRZIŅA: Because I just got all the information about Kristina Hamann from Latvia… If she’s  Violetta Grigorieva it explains everything about this case that was unclear up to now!

 

KARL: Why? Who is she?

 

CERTAINLY-NOT-BĒRZIŅA:That’s an information that I can’t give you. You will be entirely able to work this case without knowing any details that might be delicate for our national security. All you have to know that this is the person we’re looking for...

 

_ Karl, Olivier,  _ _ the colleague who was in Sweden  _ _ and Louise look pretty dissatisfied but there’s nothing to do about this. Certainly-not-Bērziņa opens the laptop and hits a key on the keyboard. _

 

CERTAINLY-NOT-BĒRZIŅA:  May I introduce: Kristina Hamann alias Violetta Grigorieva.

 

_ On the screen a photograph of Eryka supposedly from the Latvian passport registry appears.  _

_ Karl, Olivier and Louise stare at the picture. Karl must have pretty much expected this and he plays his part. Olivier and Louise are honestly surprised. _

_ Certainly-not-Miller and  _ _ Certainly-not-Bērziņa look at them, surprised at this reaction. _

 

CERTAINLY-NOT-MILLER  _ (suspiciously):  _ You know her, don’t you? Who is this? 

 

_ Olivier is just about to say something, but Karl interrupts him. _

 

KARL: As far as you know, her name is Kristina Hamann, isn’t it? 

 

CERTAINLY-NOT-BĒRZIŅA: Yes.

 

KARL: A Latvian citizen? Born and raised in Latvia?

 

CERTAINLY-NOT-BĒRZIŅA: Yes, mostly… What is this about?

 

_ Olivier, Louise and Karl exchange a look, Olivier and Louise slowly getting where Karl is going with this. _

 

LOUISE: We will tell you who she really is, if you tell us what’s her involvement in this case...

 

CERTAINLY-NOT-MILLER ( _ angrily _ ): You’re hardly in a position to impose conditions!

 

KARL  _ (ironically) _ : Aren’t we? We have information you want… How else are you going to get to know those? Are you going to torture us?

 

CERTAINLY-NOT-BĒRZIŅA: No, but we can get you prosecuted for withholding information concerning the national security of several European countries.

 

OLIVIER  _ (to Karl) _ : How long do you think it’ll take to drag us to court for this? And how far can Kristina Hamann have run by then?

 

_ Certainly-not-Miller and  _ _ Certainly-not-Bērziņa look at each other questioning. _

  
  


\----------------------

 

**SOFA IN THE LIVING ROOM OF THE HOLIDAY HOME**

  
Élise is lying down on the sofa. Her head in Eryka’s lap. Élise is reading a book. Eryka is reading something on her tablet.  A peaceful and happy scene, both are completely oblivious of what’s looming in Dover.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know what you think!


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a new scene in chapter 2. Maybe you should reread that chapter, before you continue with this one.
> 
> \--------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Things take a little longer now, because it takes some time to figure out how to arrange the details for something that was hinted at before. Often I might have had an idea of how things were supposed go at the end but I need to figure out the details now.  
> Writing also becomes increasingly difficult since the things that are revealed now have to be in accordance with all the hints that have been given before.  
> Sometimes I become aware that things in previous chapters should have been written differently so they fit with things that come up now so I have to adjust stuff there before I can continue with the current chapter. (That's what you get, when you post while the story is still a Wip.)  
> If my days had 50 hours, I think I’d rewrite the whole story, so that all the pieces I insert now fit in a little more smoothly and the story becomes more fluent altogether. But considering that it’s still just 24 hours per day you’ll have to live with this version…
> 
> I hope you like it nonetheless.

 

**TERRACE BEHIND THE CABIN**

 

_It’s sunny but still windy. Eryka is sitting in the sun on the bench at the wall of the house. She has put her feet up on a crosspiece between the table legs. Even if she’s sitting in the wind shadow of the house it’s still chilly. She wears a jacket. A blanket is lying over her legs. She’s looking out over the sea._

_Élise gets out of the house’s door, also wearing a wind jacket. She carries two mugs and puts them on the table. She sits down beside Eryka and hands her one of the mugs. She puts her feet up on the crosspiece of the table as well and covers her legs with Eryka’s blanket._

_They both look out over the sea and just sip from their mugs for some time._

 

ÉLISE: This place is really nice.

 

ERYKA _(smiling at her)_ : I thought you’d like it.

 

ÉLISE _(looks at her intensely)_ : You know this place, don’t you? You have been here before.

 

_Eryka looks out over the sea again._

 

ERYKA: When I was working in Lille, I got here now and again.

 

_Élise raises her eyebrows._

 

ÉLISE: With Bresson?

 

ERYKA: No! Of course not! That would be a little macabre to come back here then, wouldn’t it? Even for me... I used to come here to take a break...

 

ÉLISE: A break from what...?

 

ERYKA _(after some thinking)_ : From playing my role… From pretending to be the caring lover and proficient assistant, when my real purpose… ( _Pause_ ) There is the point when you yourself can’t distinguish anymore between yourself and the person you’re pretending to be. You need some time occasionally to find yourself again, otherwise you lose your mind.

 

ÉLISE: Is that what you do when we meet? Be yourself again for some time?

 

ERYKA: Yes… But I’ve reached a point where some breaks just aren’t enough anymore.

 

ÉLISE: Is that why you’re going to quit?

 

_Eryka is nodding slowly._

 

ERYKA: I feel like I’ve been on the run for all my life. First from the people of Colonia Dignidad, then from whatever secret service I was currently up against, from the police, from people like Baturin… I’m just exhausted!

 

_Eryka looks out over the ocean thoughtfully for a while._

 

ERYKA: (cont’d): You know, when this started for me, I felt that I had joined the good side! The one that supported the opposition in Chile, the opponents of the CIA who had approved of everything that had happened in Colonia Dignidad and of the Nazis who killed my brother…

And maybe they really were all that back then… Or it was the same back then already and I just didn’t want to see the truth... I don’t know…

Now I feel that it’s just the same on every side… They all come up with some good reasons for everything they do, but in reality it is about money and power and nothing else… - no matter which side you’re looking at.

I just don’t think I want to be a part of that anymore…

_(After a pause)_

This house is for sale actually. If it turns out that it’s possible for me to settle in France again I’m thinking about buying it and staying here. All I want is to get some peace.

 

_Élise looks at her._

 

ÉLISE: Don't’ you think you’ll get restless? Considering how you lived up to now… Have you thought about a job of some kind?

 

ERYKA:  Financially I won’t have a problem for a very long time. What I was doing pays pretty well… I hardly think that I’ll get bored very soon and if that changes in a few months, I’m sure that I’ll come up with something to do, but right now I just want to sit on this terrace and watch the waves.

 

_They just sit together for some time. After some time:_

 

ÉLISE: Why did they have to die? Why did the Russians want to get rid of them?

 

ERYKA _(after some hesitation)_ : How much have you found out already?

 

ÉLISE: Not much… The secret service guys wanted us to find the murderer but were pretty clear on that they didn’t want us to know about what the victims had worked with.

 

_Eryka looks at her smilingly._

 

ERYKA: And that drives you crazy, doesn’t it? Not knowing and not even being allowed to try to find out…?

 

_Élise smiles back. Eryka knows her well..._

 

ERYKA _(getting serious again)_ : That’s why it’s called secret service... I don’t know everything either actually… It’s the same everywhere…

I know a little bit about the background of the victims where I also happened to be the one who delivered the information that let to the decision to get rid of them. But generally I just get an assignment. I’m not given a reason.

 

ÉLISE: What were the reasons for the ones where you do know…?

 

ERYKA _(after some hesitation):_ Mark Harris’ job was to feed the British government with the information the MI6 gathered and to advise them on how to act on the bases of these information. He was a strong proponent of the British military cooperating or even becoming a part of the Euroforce even if Britain is leaving the EU otherwise.

As you can imagine Russia isn’t very thrilled of the prospect of an army as strong as the British one additionally joining the Euroforce. They're already understandably concerned as it is about all the military that’s gathering at its borders.

 

ÉLISE: Well, considering what’s happening in Ukraine it’s not too surprising that the Eastern European countries feel they might need an increased defence... It’s not that anybody is planning to invade Russia!

 

ERYKA ( _ironically_ ): Yeah? What do you think it looks like from the other side of the border?!

 

_Élise doesn’t answer to that. After a while:_

 

ERYKA: I didn’t kill them all actually. They weren’t all MY targets...

 

_Élise frowns confusedly._

 

ERYKA ( _after some hesitation_ , cont’d): There are several Violetta Grigoryevas - people with passports and credit cards with that name who leave a “greeting” for the western intelligence services every time target is killed. I don’t have any contact to any of the others. I don’t know who they are and I have no idea how many other victims there are.

 

ÉLISE: Why? Wouldn’t it be much safer to have as little people as possible knowing about this?

 

ERYKA: The idea is that just the fact that we were at a certain place at a certain time shouldn’t make us a suspect. So when a target was located, whoever of the group had to travel to the city in question in his official job or had another plausible reason to be there would get the job.

My main assignment right now is informational. I was sent to Latvia to obtain certain information that the Russians were interested in. I just happened to get these assignments as a sideline because in some cases I happened to be at the right place at the right time.

 

_Élise snorts almost amusedly._

 

ÉLISE: I can assure you that it also leads to very confusing witness accounts when you think they’ve all seen the same person and they’re really talking about different people.

 

_Eryka smiles back. Even though this is not really her thing anymore she looks pretty content with herself that she was part of such a smart undertaking._

 

\----------------------

 

**TEMPORARY OFFICE OF CERTAINLY-NOT-MILLER AND CERTAINLY-NOT-BĒRZIŅA**

 

 _Karl, Olivier,_ _Certainly-not-Bērziņa and Certainly-not-Miller are standing together. Certainly-not-Bērziņa has a few files under her arm._

 

CERTAINLY-NOT-MILLER: I read up on our files concerning what happened three years ago. Eryka Klein got away with whatever had been her involvement in the plane crash in exchange for giving us Baturin. When we bring the colleagues up to date, I think we can agree on that there is not much interest that anything about that deal becomes public! The details about that won’t be disclosed to the rest of the group!

 

_He looks intensely at Karl and Olivier. They nod agreeingly. They walk out of the room and through the corridor..._

 

_\----------------------_

 

**CONFERENCE ROOM**

 

_...entering the conference room and joining the other police involved in the investigation._

_On the wall in the background there are now the pictures of Èlise and Eryka in the center of the wall with all the pictures and documents of the case._

_Karl sits down at the table with the others. Olivier,_ _Certainly-not-Bērziņa and Certainly-not-Miller are standing in the front, leading the meeting._

 

CERTAINLY-NOT-BĒRZIŅA: Good morning… _(She sorts a few papers, then:)_ According to our current information, we can be pretty certain that while living under the identity of Kristina Hamann in Riga and Brussels during the last years Eryka Klein transferred a significant amount of very sensitive information to the Russians and that she killed - for what we know up to now - at least ten people under the identity of Violetta Grigorjeva.

 

CERTAINLY-NOT-MILLER: Commander Wassermann and Eryka Klein met during an investigation concerning the plane crash about three years ago. We don’t know for sure, what the nature of their relationship was back then, how their relationship developed and what exactly the nature of her relationship is now. Does anybody of you have any information on that?

 

**SHOULDER CLOSE-UP OF KARL**

 

_He is sitting at the table and very interestedly looking at his hands._

 

_Cut back to the broader angle:_

**CONFERENCE ROOM**

 

LOUISE ( _hesitantly_ ): Élise doesn’t talk much about… private things. I have no idea if she currently has a boyfriend… or girlfriend for that matter… and if so who that might be. ( _hesitantly_ ): She acted a little… odd back then…, when there were certain suspicions against Eryka Klein. It might be an explanation actually… if there was something going on between them back then already.

 

POLICEMAN II ( _agreeingly_ ): There were certain… rumours...

 

CERTAINLY-NOT-MILLER: If we proceed on the assumption that Commander Wassermann was and is in a relationship with Eryka Klein, we need to investigate how much she knew or even was involved in this.

 

POLICEMAN I: She is… always correct. Annoyingly, pedantic correct. She would report her Grandmother to the police, if she stepped on a newly sown lawn somewhere. Not by any stretch of the imagination would she start a relationship with a suspect, let alone with someone, who’s involved in something like this… _(He points at the collection of pictures and facts at the wall.)_ If she really has a thing going with Eryka Klein and the accusations against her are true, I can’t imagine that Élise knew what Eryka Klein was up to!

 

OLIVIER: Élise’s phone is switched off. We found the GPS-tracker of her car safe and sound in the desk drawer in her office.

I talked to her parents in Metz: Her father is fit as a fiddle and they haven’t even spoken let alone seen their daughter in five weeks.

She obviously doesn’t want us to find her. She lied to us about where she went. I think it’s a pretty save guess to assume that she is with Eryka Klein and that she doesn’t want anyone to know about that.

 

CERTAINLY-NOT-MILLER: We will find Eryka Klein, if we find Élise Wassermann! So that’s our main priority for now!

 

OLIVIER _(pointing to the pictures of Élise and Eryka)_ : If we put an APW out for them, we’d have to acknowledge what they are wanted for and up to now we are pretty happy, that we succeeded to keep it from the public that someone’s running around out there poisoning people with polonium.

It would also get known that a French police officer is involved in this, which certainly isn’t in our interest, either.

Additionally: If Élise really doesn’t know what Eryka Klein is up to and she finds out from the news now, while she is with her, Eryka Klein might consider her a serious threat and who knows what she’s going to do then.

For all of these reasons we will first try to find them without involving the public.

We will continue to track her phone and we need to find out as much as possible about their relationship. Maybe they have a customary meeting point where they are right now.

Once Élise reemerges all the information we have, are helpful when we talk to her to find out how much she actually knew.

So… There is a lot of work to do for us…

 

CERTAINLY-NOT-MILLER: Philippe and the Belgians continue to try to find out when and how regularly Élise and Eryka Klein might have met in Brussels. He showed their pictures to the waitress at the bar. She says they seem to look familiar, but she is not sure if they really were the customers who payed with Violetta Grigoryeva’s credit card that evening.

 

CERTAINLY-NOT-BĒRZIŅA: Well, according to the investigations going on right now concerning her activities in Latvia, it must be her. It just fits too well to be a coincidence...

 

_\------------------------_

 

**GATE OF A BARRACK AREA**

 

_A sign at the entrance in Latvian and English: Euroforce - Latvian Battalion. Two flags - a Latvian and a European one - are flowing in the wind._

 

**THE COURT IN FRONT OF THE BARRACKS**

 

 _We see military vehicles and people in uniforms. The camera focuses on a man in uniform,_ _one patch with a German and one with a European flag_ _sewn to his uniform. If you’ve got a good memory you remember him as Tobias Gantmann._

_Gantmann’s mobile phone starts ringing. He gets it out of his pocket. We see the picture on his lockscreen: It's Eryka smiling at the camera._

_The name of the person ringing can be seen: Janssen_

_Gantman answers his phone._

 

**AN OFFICE**

 

_Two people in military uniforms, one in civvies. One is sitting behind the desks, the others on chairs at the side._

_Gantmann is just sitting down on a chair in front of the desk. Looking at the other men a little insecurely._

 

GANTMANN: Worum geht es? (SUBTITLES: What’s this about?)

 

JANSEN: Sie haben als stellvertretender Kommandeur des Bataillons Zugang zu sicherheitsrelevanten Informationen… (SUBTITLES: As the assistant commander of this battalion you’ve got access to a lot of sensitive data…)

 

GANTMANN _(confused)_ : Ja… (SUBTITLES: Yes...)

 

JANSEN: Sind Sie sicher, dass Sie durchgängig die entsprechenden Sicherheitsvorkehrungen eingehalten haben? (SUBTITLES: Are you sure that you always acted in accordance with the relevant security regulations?)

 

GANTMANN: Ähm… Ja… Ich denke schon… (SUBTITLES: Er… Yes… I think so...)

 

_Janssen looks at him pondering for a moment._

 

JANSSEN: Wie sieht es mit Ihrem Zugang zu unserem Computersystem aus? (SUBTITLES: How about the log-in data for our computer system?)

 

GANTMANN: Was meinen Sie? (SUBTITLES: What do you mean?)

 

JANSSEN: Könnte sich jemand über Ihren Computer Zugang zu unseren Daten verschafft habe? (SUBTITLES: Could someone have gained access to our date from your computer?)

 

GANTMANN: Ähm… Nein… (SUBTITLES: Er… No…)

 

JANSSEN: Nutzt irgendjemand außer Ihnen Ihren Computer? (SUBTITLES: Does anyone beside you use your computer?)

 

GANTMANN: Ähm… Meine Freundin manchmal… (SUBTITLES: Er… My girlfriend sometimes…)

 

_Janssen lifts an eyebrow._

 

JANSSEN: Den gleichen Computer mit dem Sie sich in unser System einloggen? (SUBTITLES: The same computer with which you log into our system?)

 

GANTMANN: Ja, aber ich logge mich dort natürlich aus, wenn ich mit meiner Arbeit fertig bin! Ich verstehe nicht… (SUBTITLES: Yes, but I logout of course, when i’m finished working. I don’t understand…)

 

JANSSEN _(interrupting him)_ : War Ihre Freundin jemals unbeobachtet an Ihrem Rechner? (SUBTITLES: Did she ever use your computer unobservedly?)

 

GANTMANN: Vielleicht, ja, aber was sollte sie dann… (SUBTITLES: Maybe, yes, but what should she…)

 

JANSSEN: Sie sind zusammen seit… ( _Janssen turns a few papers. He obviously has information about Gantmann’s girlfriend.)_ Etwa 1 ½ Jahren? (SUBTITLES: You’re together since… About 1 ½ years?)

 

GANTMANN: Ja, aber ich verstehe nicht, warum…? (SUBTITLES: Yes, but I don’t understand why…)

 

JANSSEN _(interrupting him)_ : Wie haben Sie sich kennengelernt? (SUBTITLES: How did you meet?)

 

GANTMANN: Sie ist Übersetzerin für die Lettische Vertretung bei der EU in Brüssel. Ich war als militärischer Berater bei den Planungen für die Euroforce dabei und dort hat sie…  (SUBTITLES: She is a translator for the Latvian representation to the EU in Brussels. I was one of the military advisors during the planning process of the Euroforce where she...)

 _(He stops talking, continuing confusedly)_ Ich habe Sie vorschriftsmäßig informiert, als die Beziehung begonnen hat, weil aufgrund der Geheimhaltungsstufe, zu der ich Zugang habe, eventuell auch Ehe- oder Lebenspartner in der Sicherheitsüberprüfung mit einbezogen werden müssen. Kristina hatte zu diesem Zeitpunkt sogar schon eine eigene Sicherheitsüberprüfung durchlaufen, da sie auch bei als geheim eingestuften Gesprächen dolmetscht oder geheime Dokumente übersetzt. Sie haben also all diese Informationen schon. Warum stellen Sie all diese Fragen? (SUBTITLES: I informed you - in accordance with the provisions - when we started our relationship, because with the level of security I have access to also spouses or cohabitants might be subject to a security vetting. Kristina already had gone through a security vetting of her own at that point however, because she is translating at meeting or documents that are classified. So you already have all of these information. Why do you keep asking all of these questions?)

 

JANSSEN: Weil wir es noch einmal von Ihnen hören möchten! (SUBTITLES: Because we want to hear it from you!)

Sie ist in Deutschland geboren und aufgewachsen. Aber sie spricht lettisch und arbeitet für die lettische EU-Vertretung… _(He reads these information from the papers in front of him.)_ Hat Sie Ihnen jemals erläutert, wie es dazu kam? (SUBTITLES: She was born and grew up in Germany but she speaks Latvian and works for the Latvian EU-representation. Did she ever explain to you how that came about?)

 

GANTMANN: Ähm… Die Familie ihres Vaters gehörte vor dem Krieg zur deutschen Minderheit in Lettland. Ihr Vater ist als kleines Kind während des Krieges nach Deutschland gekommen. Kristina ist dort geboren und aufgewachsen. Ihre Großmutter hat sich viel um sie gekümmert und von ihr hat sie Lettisch gelernt. Sie ist dann vor einigen Jahren nach Lettland gegangen, weil sie das Land aus dem ihre Familie stammt kennenlernen wollte und ist hier geblieben. (SUBTITLES: Her father’s family belonged to the German minority in Latvia before the war. Her father came to Germany during the war as a small child. Her grandmother took care of her a lot; she learned Latvian from her. A few years ago she went to Latvia to get to know the country her family came from and she stayed.)

 

JANSSEN: Haben Sie je ihre Familie getroffen? (SUBTITLES: Did you ever meet her family?)

 

GANTMANN: Nein. Ihre Mutter ist gestorben, als sie noch sehr jung war. Sie ist bei ihrem Vater und ihrer Großmutter aufgewachsen. Ihre Großmutter ist seit längerem tot, sie hat keine Geschwister und ihr Vater ist ebenfalls vor einigen Jahren gestorben. (SUBTITLES: No. Her mother died, when she was very young. She was raised by her father and grandmother. Her Grandmother is dead for some time already, she doesn’t have any siblings and her father also died a few years ago.)

 

JANSSEN: Es gab also keine Familie, der Sie hätten vorgestellt werden können…? (SUBTITLES: So there was no family you could have been introduced to?)

 

GANTMANN: Nein. (SUBTITLES: No.)

 

JANSSEN: Haben sie jemals irgendwen getroffen, der sie kannte, bevor sie nach Lettland kam? Irgendwelche alten Bekannten oder Schulfreund aus Deutschland? (SUBTITLES: Did you ever meet anyone, who knew her, before she came to Latvia? Any old acquaintances or school friends from Germany?)

 

GANTMANN: Nein… (SUBTITLES: No…)

 

JANSSEN: Kam Ihnen das nicht merkwürdig vor? (SUBTITLES: Didn’t you think that was ood?)

 

GANTMANN ( _confused_ ): Ich weiß nicht… Ich habe darüber nie nachgedacht… Warum wollen Sie das alles wissen? (SUBTITLES: I don’t know… I never thought about that… Why do you want to know all of this?)

 

JANSSEN: Wir vermuten, dass es in Deutschland nie eine Kristina Hamann gab, dass sie erst existiert, seit sie in Lettland aufgetaucht ist… (SUBTITLES: We assume, that there never was a Kristina Hamann in Germany, that she first started to exist, when she appeared in Latvia…)

 

GANTMANN _(staring at him incomprehensibly)_ : Was…? (SUBTITLES: What…?)

 

JANSSEN: Wir wissen seit längerem, dass die Russen Zugang zu vielen unserer geheimen Daten haben. Des deutschen Geheimdienstes, des lettischen Geheimdienstes und vielen unserer Verbündeter.

Wir vermuten, dass die Frau, die derzeit unter dem Namen Kristina Hamann lebt, Spyware auf Ihrem Rechner installiert hat, wodurch russische Hacker einen Fuß in der Tür hatten in unser System zu gelangen und von dort in alle mit uns verbundenen Netzwerke eindringen konnten. (SUBTITLES: We have known for some time now, that the Russians have access to a lot of our secret data. Data of the German secret service, of the Latvian secret service and of many of our allies.

We assume, that the woman, who is living under the name of Kristina Hamann today, instilled spyware on your computer that enabled Russian hackers to have a foot in the door to get in our system and from there invade all other networks that we are connected with ours.)

 

_Gantmann stares at him with an open mouth._

 

\----------------------

 

**THE BREAK ROOM AT THE POLICE STATION**

 

_Karl, Olivier and Louise are sitting around a table. Each a mug with coffee in front of them. They all look pretty strained from what they have found out about Élise._

 

LOUISE: From what you hear Élise’s relationships tend to be… _(She thinks about how to put this.)_ ...sexually intense, but emotionally pretty superficial... So IF any of this is true, I don’t think she ever gained knowledge of what Eryka Klein was doing. Otherwise she would have reported it, because even if there’s something going on between her and Eryka Klein there doesn’t have to be a considerably emotional bond that would make her cover something like this up for her girlfriend - or whatever you want to call her.

 

OLIVIER: On the other hand this also means that she is not very experienced with getting emotionally close to someone... If in this case Élise did actually fall in love with Eryka Klein, it’s difficult to determine how she would handle it, if she found out about her involvement in this.

 

**SHOULDER CLOSE-UP OF KARL**

 

_Karl rubs his face with his hands, trying to seem unmoved by this discussion._

 

Cut back to the broader angle:

**THE BREAK ROOM**

 

Louise puts down her mug.

 

LOUISE: Yes, maybe. _(She gets up.)_ I’ll get back to work. _(She leaves the room.)_

 

_Olivier looks at Karl inquiringly._

 

OLIVIER: You knew that they were still seeing each other, didn’t you?

 

_Karl thinks for a moment, what to answer to this. Finally:_

 

KARL: Yes, I did. I had no idea, though, what Eryka was up to by now, let alone that I knew that she was involved in THIS.

 

OLIVIER: Do you know if Élise knew?

 

_Karl shakes his head._

 

KARL: No idea… I can’t really imagine it, but she was a bit odd during the last days, so… Well, odder than usual…

 

_Olivier and Karl smile at each other._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, here is chapter 11! Thanks for all the comments and kudos that I got up to now! I appreciate all of them and it’s what keeps me motivated to continue even if it takes some time and I have a lot of other things on my plate.  
> I hope that I can update with chapter 12 a little sooner; getting a lot of feedback from you will certainly help a lot to speed things up :-).
> 
> There are some small additions in the interrogation of Tobias Gantmann in chapter 10. You might want to read that again.

**A SCHOOL PLAYGROUND**

 

_Some steps are connecting two different levels on the playground. Some kids are playing football in the background. Others a walking around in small groups. Talking and giggling._

_Georgijs Anderson is sitting on the steps, alone. He’s holding his phone, which is ticking occasionally, irregularly. He's holding the phone to the stones the steps are made of. The phone starts ticking a little faster._

_Three girls about his age are approaching him. One of them is Karl’s daughter Maya._

 

GIRL I: Are you still fiddling around with that ridiculous radioactivity thing…?

 

_Georgijs looks up at them, seemingly disinterested._

 

GEORGIJS: It's not ridiculous.

 

MAYA ( _ironically_ ): Do you still think you will make any big discoveries with that thing?!

 

GEORGIJS: Maybe…

 

GIRL I ( _ironically_ ): Yeah… Sure...

 

GEORGIJS: Maybe I already did make a pretty important discovery…?

 

_All three girls start laughing._

 

GIRL II (ironically): Oh, really? What big discovery

did you make?!

 

_Georgijs looks at them angrily, clearly fed up with being ridiculed all the time._

 

\----------------------

 

**THE BEACH AT THE TRANSITION BETWEEN SAND AND DUNES**

 

_Élise and Eryka are lying in the sand in the wind shadow of the lowest dunes. Eryka’s head at Élise’s shoulder, Élise’s arm around her._

_The weather is nice for the season but there are clear signs of autumn. There are some clouds in the sky, it’s windy but not rainy, but also definitely not beach season anymore. There are just very few people visible in the background walking along the beach._

 

_Élise is holding Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire with her free hand and reading out loud from it. It’s the scene where Fleur Delacours makes her appearance._

 

ÉLISE: Jesus, she sounds awful!

 

ERYKA: Oh, give her a chance, she turns out to be pretty nice in the end…

 

_Élise doesn’t look very convinced._

 

ÉLISE : Have you ever experienced people like that to turn out nice in the end…?

 

ERYKA: “People like that”? According to that description she looks very much like you, doesn’t she…?

 

ÉLISE( _snorting_ ): Yeah, maybe… But that's not really the point is it? The look really doesn’t help much if you’re… _(She fades out.)_

 

ERYKA: If you’re... what?

 

ÉLISE ( _evasivly_ ): I don’t know... I can assure you, that it’s not just the looks that determine where you end up in a middle school’s hierarchy. _(After a short pause.)_ It's your turn.

 

 _She hands the book to Eryka._ _Eryka looks up at her inquiringly. For a moment she looks like she wants to ask for details but then decides not to. She takes the book, cuddles up a little closer to Élise and starts to continue reading._

 

_\----------------------_

 

**AN INTERROGATION ROOM IN THE BARRACKS IN LATVIA**

 

_Tobias Gantmann, Janssen, two other men (both without uniform) and two women (one with and one without uniform) are sitting in a bleak, windowless room. A table between them. This is clearly not just a conversation anymore to clarify some obscurities but a serious interrogation._

_The conversation is in English now; apparently the people listening have become a more international audience._

_Janssen is only listening, the interrogation is done by the other man who speaks English with a slight, barely recognizable accent, similar to_ _Certainly-not-Bērziņa’s._

_Tobias Gantmann looks seriously exhausted by now._

 

INTERROGATOR: Did she hit on you or did you hit on her when you got together?

 

GANTMANN: Er… I’m not sure… It was me who asked her out first anyway.

 

INTERROGATOR: So you started it?

 

GANTMANN: I guess so… _(He rubs his face with his hands.)_ I still can’t... Are you really sure that she…? I was together with her in one and a half years! I just CAN’T imagine that I would not have realised that she...

 

INTERROGATOR ( _ironically_ ): You know… WE can’t imagine that either! _(He looks at Gantmann provocatively.)_

 

_Gantmann stares back at him; slowly getting where this is going._

 

GANTMANN: You believe I knew about this? That I deliberately helped her to get access to…?

 

INTERROGATOR: Did you?!

 

GANTMANN: NO!

INTERROGATOR: It’s hardly believable that she approached you to get close to you, if it was you who started the relationship!

 

GANTMANN _(confused and overwhelmed)_ : She was very flirtatious from the beginning. It was pretty obvious that she was interested in me… So I might have asked her out, but she was very clear that she wanted me to! But I never thought that was because… _(He fades out.)_

 

INTERROGATOR: You said yourself, that you can’t believe that you didn’t realize what was going on!

 

GANTMANN: I never… I didn’t look out for anything suspicious about her! That your girlfriend turns out to be a Russian spy is not exactly something you expect to happen!

 

INTERROGATOR: Was there never anything that seemed odd to you?

 

_Gantmann thinks for a while._

 

GANTMANN: I thought it was odd that she wasn’t on Facebook. Who in our generation isn’t on Facebook? Especially if you live in many different places like she did and might want to keep in contact with friends.

She claimed it was because she was concerned about Facebook’s lax handling of privacy. I just thought she was a little paranoid; I never suspected that she actually had never lived in any of the places she claimed to have lived at... And that consequently there just weren’t any friends from those places to keep in touch with.

 

INTERROGATOR: How was the sex?

 

GANTMANN: What?! Don't you think that question is a little inappropriate? Why is that important?!

 

 _He looks from one of the people listening to the other._ _But no one even reacts to his question._

 

INTERROGATOR: As you can imagine we’re trying to find her. Do you know where she is now? Are you in contact with her?

 

GANTMANN: She was in Brussels recently like she mostly is. She wanted to go on vacation for a few days with a friend. She said she might be outside of mobile phone reception.

 

INTERROGATOR: Did you try to reach her?

 

GANTMANN: I sent her a message yesterday. She didn't answer yet, so I suppose she actually is out of reach.

 

INTERROGATOR _(smiling slightly mischievously)_ : Did she tell you with whom she’d go on vacation?

 

GANTMANN: A colleague from Brussels I think… I don't recall if she mentioned a name.

 

INTERROGATOR _(looking very content to release this bombshell)_ : She’s with a French policewoman whom she has been in a sexual relationship with for about three years by now.

 

_Gantmann stares at him._

 

GANTMANN: What…?

 

INTERROGATOR _(sardonically)_ : Yes, so you might understand that we have our doubts that you and her were banging for over a year and you never realized that men aren't really her thing…

 

_One of the other men who has just been watching the interrogation until now starts talking. He seems to be authorised to make certain offers._

 

MAN I: If you tell us what you know and work with us from now on, you can still get out of this pretty unscathed.

 

GANTMANN: I DON’T know anything…! I had no idea about any of this!

 

_The interrogator and the other people watching look at each other, apparently agreeing, that they believe him enough to not lock him up for now._

 

MAN I: Until we have clarified without any doubt that you were not involved in this, you will not be allowed anywhere near our military facilities. You will stay at a hotel in the city. You will not leave Riga until we tell you that you're allowed to.

We will continue to monitor your and her mobile phone and you will continue to try to contact her.

If you want to proof your loyalty you better help us find her!

 

\--------------------------

 

**TEMPORARY OFFICE OF CERTAINLY-NOT-MILLER AND CERTAINLY-NOT-BĒRZIŅA**

 

_Certainly-not-Bērziņa and Certainly-not-Miller are sitting behind their desks. Olivier is standing in front of them, browsing through a folder of papers he just got. He turns to leave, then stops and turns around again._

 

OLIVIER: I just want to… Please keep in mind that it was Élise who found out about Eryka Klein’s involvement in the plane crash and she reported it even though - according to what we know now - we can be pretty certain that they already were lovers at that point.

So I still think it’s impossible, that she knew about any of this. If she did she certainly would have told us no matter what went on between her and Eryka Klein.

 

CERTAINLY-NOT-BĒRZIŅA: Up to now there actually isn’t anything that indicates that she knew anything. So she might get...

 

_At that moment Karl comes rushing in._

 

KARL: Jesus, fucking Christ! Look at the news!

 

_At that moment several phones at the police station go off in the background._

_A moment later Certainly-not-Miller’s mobile phone that's lying on his desk starts ringing, a second later it starts ringing in Certainly-not-Bērziņa’s and Olivier’s pockets as well._

_\------------------_

 

**THE BEACH AT THE TRANSITION BETWEEN SAND AND DUNES**

 

_Eryka is still lying in Élise’s arm, still reading to her. Élise looks down at her musingly; her thoughts seem to have drifted away from the story. She interrupts Eryka’s reading:_

 

ÉLISE: How can you do it?

 

ERYKA: Do what?

 

ÉLISE: Kill people…

 

_Eryka looks at her surprised._

 

ÉLISE (cont’d _, softly)_ : I’m not blaming you. I’m just trying to understand.

 

_Eryka rolls on her back, looking at the sky. Her head still lying on Élise’s arm, but distancing herself a little more from her than before when she was cuddled to her side._

 

ERYKA: I don't know… I guess in the beginning I told myself that the people I killed were bad and deserved it… Because they were on the wrong side, on the Nazis side, on Pinochet’s side… But by now… I’m aware that they’re often just people who happened to be in our way, or whose job it happened to be to be in our way… So by now it’s mostly just... my job…

 

_She looks at the sky for some moments, thinking._

 

ERYKA ( _cont’d_ ): It's not that I like to kill them. I don’t get a kick out of it or something like that. But I don’t mind it very much. ( _She looks at Élise again.)_ I suppose to go through the things I experienced as a child doesn’t exactly make your emotions work in a normal way.

 _(_ She _thinks for some time.)_ Do you remember Marianne Lagarde?

 

_Élise looks up in surprise._

 

ÉLISE: Yes… Her father had abused her younger brother for years but there wasn't enough evidence to prosecute him. Marianne Lagarde killed him when she realised he would get away with what he did. It was my case. I arrested her. I put together all the evidence against her. It was a rock solid case. She went to prison for murder. ( _After a pause)_ You were very angry with me, because you felt she had gotten her father exactly what he deserved and she shouldn’t go to prison for it.

 

_Eryka nods._

 

ERYKA: Do you remember, what you told me?

 

ÉLISE: I told you that I agreed with you, that I didn't think she should go to prison either, but that it wasn't up to me to let her get away with it. That it was just my job to arrest her and build a case against her.

 

ERYKA: As it’s my job to kill people if my superiors decide that that's what has to happen. You accept that the wrong people go to prison; I kill. I might go a little further than you do, but in general we’re both willing to do questionable things that simply are part of our job.

 

_Eryka thoughtfully watches a seagull that’s flying in the sky._

 

 _ERYKA_ (cont’d) _:_ Are you ever bothered by what you do? Do you lose sleep over these cases like Marianne Legarde?

 

_Élise slowly shakes her head._

 

ÉLISE: I know that many of my colleagues do. I don't…

 

ERYKA: Me neither…   _(She looks at Élise.)_ I guess we're both pretty well suited for the things we’re doing.

 

_Élise opens her mouth to say something but then apparently decides not to._

 

ERYKA ( _pensively_ ): I sometimes lose sleep over the fact that I am NOT bothered by what I do...

 

_Élise turns on her side to look at her._

 

ÉLISE: You won't be doing it anymore!

 

_Eryka nods slowly. Élise runs her fingers through Eryka’s hair._

 

ÉLISE: If things work out and you can stay in France and buy the house, do you plan to live here?

 

ERYKA: I don't know… ( _She looks at Élise.)_ I haven't really thought that far yet. ( _After a pause)_ Do you want me to live with you?

 

ÉLISE: I don't know. I haven't thought that far either… We can live in Calais or Dunkirk and this is our home for the weekend…

 

_Eryka smiles at her, then she gets serious again._

 

ERYKA: You understand that I will be monitored, Élise? The French secret service might not have anything they can use against me, but they know I used to work for the Russians. They will certainly keep an eye on me at least until they can be sure that I’m not active anymore.

I'm sure that also the Russians will check on me at least in the beginning to make sure I actually did retire and am not working for the other side now.

Whatever our living arrangements are going to be, if it’s known that we’re in whatever kind of relationship you will be a part of that!

Do you think you can handle to know you're being watched all the time?

 

_Élise shrugs her shoulders._

 

ÉLISE: We don't do anything illegal, do we? So…?

 

_Eryka smiles back at her._

 

\---------------------------

 

**A PATH THROUGH THE DUNES**

 

_Élise and Eryka walk up a path that leads up from the beach, hand in hand. Two people come their way. In contrast to the same situation a day ago Élise doesn’t let go of Eryka’s hand: They don’t have to hide anymore._

 

_They pass by a shop that sells flags, postcards, sand toys and newspapers._

 

**CLOSE-UP OF A STAND WITH NEWSPAPERS**

 

 _A large headline on a newspaper reads:_ Mort inexpliqué causé par maladie des rayons. Apparemment plusieurs cas partout l’Europe (Subtitles: Unexplained death caused by radiation poisoning. Apparently several more cases throughout Europe)

 

Cut back to:

**ÉLISE AND ERYKA, SEEN FROM BEHIND, WALKING AWAY FROM THE BEACH**

 

_They are walking side by side, holding hands, not having seen the headline and still completely unaware of the problems that might be looming._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What makes my day almost as much (or perhaps even more) than to get comments and kudos for my own story is to get to read others’ stories about Élise and Eryka. Unfortunately there are just very few of those. So I would just like to encourage all of you who have an idea or plot in their head to just start writing.  
> Even if it’s you first story and it doesn’t turn out to be brilliant, so what? You have to start somewhere to improve.  
> Even if English isn’t your first language: I’m also always writing with three different online dictionaries open and I’m pretty sure a lot of my sentences sound pretty awkward to a native speaker's ear. Also here: You’ll never get better if you don’t have something to practise on and (at least in my opinion) I think the plot of a story is much more important than that it’s presented in a grammatically flawless way.  
> So if there’s an idea in your head maybe this can be the little nudge you need to sit down and type it together?
> 
> (Btw: If there’s an English native speaker, who’s shuddering regularly when they stumble over my English grammar or an especially awkward sentence: You’re totally welcome to make suggestions for improval. My mailadresse is in my profile.)


	12. Intermission

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is not a new chapter.  
> I had most of the story worked out before I started writing, but I hadn’t worked out every detail, so now in the later chapters things are coming up that I would have liked to built up to in previous chapters.  
> So before the new chapter can be finished I had to make quite a few additions and changes in the previous chapters, to make sure that they are in accordance with what is going to come.
> 
> Before you read the next chapters you should read the changes and additions I made.  
> So if you read the previous chapters before the 18th of September 2017 you should at least reread chapter 3 and 5, if you want all the details that are new or a little different you should also reread chapter 2 and 7.
> 
> You can consider it some kind of “Previously on The Tunnel…”, because it will point you to the things that will be important to keep in mind as a background for what’s to come in the next chapters.
> 
> Again i’m sorry the next chapter takes so long but part of the delay is due to the fact that I have to keep track of what might have to be adjusted in previous chapter. Since that’s done now I hope that you will get the next chapter soon!

Chapter 11b is soon to come!


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again: Please let me know what you think!

**A HOTEL ROOM**

 

_ Tobias Gantmann is lying on the bed and staring at the ceiling. After a while he takes his phone from his pocket. _

 

**CLOSE-UP OF THE PHONE**

 

_ He has opened a German news page. He boredly, slowly scrolls down a few headlines. The headline that’s third in the list reads: Mysteriöse Tode durch Strahlenkrankheit. Führt die Spur nach Lettland? (SUBTITLES: Mysterious Deaths by Radiation Sickness. Does the Trail Lead to Latvia? _

 

_ Cut back to: _

**THE HOTEL ROOM**

 

_ He scrolls on, not realising the significance. _

  
  


\-------------------------

**TEMPORARY OFFICE OF CERTAINLY-NOT-MILLER AND CERTAINLY-NOT-BĒRZIŅA**

_ Certainly-not-Miller,  _ _ Certainly-not-Bērziņa _ _ Olivier and Karl are looking at a computer, where a life stream of BBC News is running. _

REPORTER: Up to now there wasn’t any announcement by the police or any other authorities whatsoever. The cases bear a distinct resemblance to the death of Alexander…

_ The voice of the reporter fades into the background. _

KARL: Yesterday Georgijs Anderson apparently showed off to some of his classmates telling them that he was the one to find out that his mother got murdered by being poisoned with polonium. The kids of course told that story at home and one of them apparently has an uncle who is a freelance journalist… As you can imagine that guy’s career took a big move forward yesterday when he got a big story published…

 

OLIVIER: That story spread through all European media within minutes. Since then the British and French police’s press office’s phone lines are buzzing as you can imagine.

 

CERTAINLY-NOT- BĒRZIŅA : Andreas Köster’s widow had been questioned thoroughly by the German BND after the suspicion came up that he might have been poisoned to find out if she knew anything that could help with the case. So she has been assuming for some time now that there was something fishy about her husband’s death and apparently got pretty pissed because nobody wanted to tell her anything.

After Ines Anderson’s story hit the news yesterday she put two and two together and called the next newspaper. So this morning the next big headline followed that there was at least one more alleged victim. It can hardly take much time until they get scent of the other cases.

 

CERTAINLY-NOT-MILLER _ (To Karl) _ : Didn’t you tell this Georgijs-Boy and his father that they should keep quiet for now about all of this?

 

KARL: He’s twelve! He gets teased! What exactly did you expect…?

 

OLIVIER: We need to make some kind of statement soon.

 

CERTAINLY-NOT-BĒRZIŅA ( _ resolutely _ ): We need to keep this as small as possible! I will make some phone calls about which information we can release. 

 

OLIVIER: Luckily we can tell them, that we actually have a pretty good trace by now, but we should in no way disclose that according to that trace a French police commander is involved in this.

 

Karl  _ (angrily) _ : Elise isn't involved in this! Eryka Klein is!

 

CERTAINLY-NOT-MILLER  _ (ironically) _ : Ok, so a French Police Commander’s girlfriend is involved in this and we have no idea how much said Police Commander knew about it! That’s a lot better of course!

 

OLIVIER: Preferably we could already present more than just a trace, but right now… Elise's phone seems to still be switched off. Tracking Eryka Klein’s or... Kristina Hamann’s phone is impossible. We can’t track her now and we couldn't track any previous phone activity either, so we assume that her phone isn’t necessarily switched off, but equipped with some special security devices to make it untraceable. 

 

_ They look at the lifestream on the computer screen again. _

 

REPORTER: The questions that are most pressing is of course if there has been or still is any danger for the public since the perpetrator worked with radioactive material. And if so since when did the police or other agencies know about this and why didn't the public get any warning?

 

_ Karl closes his eyes and slowly shakes his head. _

 

OLIVER: I’m NOT looking forward to this press conference...

  
  


_ \---------------------- _

 

**IN FRONT OF A GROCERY STORE**

 

_ In front of the store is a stand with newspapers. All of them feature the polonium murders as a big headline. Élise is standing close to the newsstand so she can read the article. Eryka gets out of the shop, a plastic bag in her hand. Élise looks up at her. _

 

ÉLISE: God, now they will also have to deal with a hysteric public…!

 

_ Eryka takes her hand. _

 

ERYKA  _ (calmly, pleadingly) _ : Come on, Élise! It’s not your problem! We’re on holiday.

 

_ Élise looks at her, then back to the newspaper. _

 

ERYKA  _ (cont’d) _ : Come on… Let’s go!

 

_ Hesitantly Élise allows her to draw her with her. _

  
  


_ \------------------------- _

 

**AUDITORIUM IN THE POLICE STATION OF CALAIS**

 

_ The room is packed with journalists. On a platform a woman - according to the nameplate in front of her she’s the media spokesperson of the Calais police department - and Karl and Olivier are sitting behind a desk, microphones in front of them. _

 

KARL: ...numerous leads we are following up in cooperation with our European colleagues. 

 

_ A mayhem starts with all journalists putting up their hands to indicate that they want to ask a question. The media spokesperson points at someone in the second row. _

 

JOURNALIST  _ (German accent) _ : How many more victims are there and which nationalities do these victims have?

 

_ Olivier clears his throat. _

 

OLIVIER: We do know of… ten by now. Concerning the details of the cases you certainly understand that there are some things we can’t go into to not jeopardize our investigation.

 

_ The next mayhem starts. The media spokesperson points at another journalist. _

 

JOURNALIST II  _ (British accent):  _ Since these cases bear a clear resemblance to the murders of Alexander Litvinenko, they clearly seem to have some connection to foreign secret service activity. So I assume that the Police isn’t handling these cases alone?

 

OLIVIER: We of course work together with other agencies that might have additional insights into these cases.

 

JOURNALIST II: Which agencies?

 

_ Olivier looks up at Certainly-not-Miller and  _ _ Certainly-not-Bērziņa _ _ who are standing at the back of the room, blending into the crowd like they belong to the journalists. _

 

OLIVIER: That’s an information that we can’t disclose.

 

_ Again a mayhem starts. Again the media spokesperson chooses a journalist. _

 

JOURNALIST III  _ (Spanish accent) _ : Who are the victims? Do they have a certain profile or are people just targeted at random? Do ordinary people have to worry?

 

OLIVIER: People are not targeted at random. The public does not have to be worried.

 

JOURNALIST III: Then who is targeted?

 

CERTAINLY-NOT-MILLER: Also that is something we can’t disclose.

 

_ Again mayhem, again a journalist is chosen to ask a question. _

  
  


Cut to:

**A MORE GRAINY PICTURE OF OLIVIER AND KARL ON THE PLATFORM**

 

_ The picture is more grainy and blurry than before. Karl’s, Olivier’s and the spokesperson’s names and titles are displayed on the screen. The English gets voice-overed by a life French translator. _

 

JOURNALIST IV ( _ French accent, from the off, while the camera is still on the podium) _ : Do you think you’ll make an arrest soon?

 

KARL: We have some very promising traces we’re following. When and if those will lead to an arrest is something we for tactical reasons can’t disclose right now.

 

JOURNALIST V  _ (from the off): _ Is there any danger to the public from the substances these murders have been committed with?

 

KARL: No.

 

_ Several journalist start calling questions now, without waiting to be called. _

 

JOURNALIST VI  _ (from the off) _ : How can you be so sure?!

 

JOURNALIST VII  _ (from the off) _ : Why wasn’t the public informed about this possible thread earlier?!

 

_ Karl, Olivier and the spokesperson start to look even more tense than before. _

  
  


Cut to the broader angle:

**A PIZZA TAKEOUT**

 

_ The press conference we saw is shown on a TV that’s set up at the wall. Élise is standing in front of the TV, engrossedly watching the press conference. _

_ In the background we see Eryka taking two pizza boxes from a man behind the counter. _

 

ERYKA  _ (to the man) _ : Merci! Au revoir!

 

_ She turns around to walk to the exit, when she realises what Élise is captivated by. She takes her hand and tries to gently draw her towards the door. _

_ Élise reluctantly tears her eyes from the TV and looks at Eryka. _

 

ÉLISE: This is every police’s worst nightmare!

 

ERYKA  _ (softly) _ : Don’t think about it, ok? It’s not your problem. 

 

_ Élise is following Eryka reluctantly. They get out of the pizza takeaway. _

  
  


**PARKING AREA IN FRONT OF THE PIZZA TAKEAWAY**

 

_ Élise and Eryka are walking towards Eryka’s car. _

 

ÉLISE: Karl said they have some very promising traces! Do you think he just said that to calm them down or do they really have something new they’re following up?

 

ERYKA: Élise! They won’t get me! There are no traces that lead them to me!

 

_ Élise starts to slowly walk with her towards the car. _

 

ÉLISE: You’ve got no idea what it’s like: Getting grilled like that by the press and having absolutely no results to show them. I feel so sorry for...

 

ERYKA _ (interrupting her, slightly annoyed now): _ Do you wish they’d have results to show them?!

 

ÉLISE  _ (annoyed because of Eryka’s comment): _ No of course not!

 

ERYKA: Good!

 

_ They get to the car and get inside. _

  
  


\----------------------------

 

**ERYKA’S AND ÉLISE’S BEDROOM**

 

 _The room is only dimly lit from the outside._ _Eryka lying on her stomach on the right side of the bed, that’s closer to the wall, asleep. Élise on the left side of the bed._

_ Their positions and the situation bears a clear resemblance with their scene in the Prologue, but this time Élise is restlessly lying awake, staring at the ceiling. _

_ She turns her head towards Eryka, looking at her. Instead of getting closer to her and hugging her, she just keeps watching her. An unhappy, torn expression on her face. _

  
  


\---------------------------

 

**ERYKA’S AND ÉLISE’S LIVING ROOM/ KITCHEN**

 

_ The next morning. Eryka is standing behind the counter that’s separating the kitchen from the living room, fiddling with the breakfast preparations. Élise gets down the stairs from the bedroom. She looks tired, unrested. _

_ She sits down at the kitchen counter opposite of Eryka without saying anything. Eryka puts a cup of coffee in front of her. She looks at her inquiringly. _

 

ERYKA: Are you alright?

 

_ Élise nods slowly. She sips from her coffee. She puts her cup down and takes her mobile phone from her pocket. _

 

ÉLISE: If we assume that Baturin can’t harm you anymore… And we soon aren’t going to hide anymore anyway… It shouldn’t be a problem, if a switch on my phone, should it?

 

_ Eryka shakes her head. _

 

ERYKA: No, I don’t think so.

 

_ Élise switches on her phone. She taps on the screen, reading something, not paying attention to Eryka who’s watching her. _

  
  


\---------------------------

 

**OFFICE IN THE POLICE STATION IN CALAIS**

 

_ A tech-guy is sitting in front of a computer screen. A few windows are open on the screen. The tech-guy is sitting in in his chair, leaned back, visibly bored. He yawns. _

_ A new large window pops up on the screen. The tech-guy returns to life. He hastily sits up at the edge of the chair. He clicks on some buttons in the window. Then he gets up and rushes towards the doors of the superior’s offices in the background. _

  
  


\----------------------------

 

**CLOSE-UP OF ÉLISE’S PHONE**

 

_ We see a French news page. The first headline concerns the polonium murders. Élise’s finger taps on it. She slowly scrolls down the article while reading it. _

  
  


Cut back to the broader angle:

**THE KITCHEN**

 

_ Eryka is looking at Élise reading on her phone. She looks discontent. _

  
  


_ \---------------------- _

 

_ Later: _

**THE KITCHEN/ LIVING AREA**

 

_ Élise is still sitting at the kitchen counter, reading on her phone. Eryka gets in from outside, wearing a rain jacket, carrying a log carrier with fire wood. They don’t say anything to greet each other. _

_ Eryka puts up her jacket beside the door and kneels down beside the fireplace and stacks the logs beside the fireplace. Now and then she throws an unhappy glace at Élise. _

_ When she’s finished with stowing away the wood she gets up and approaches Élise. _

 

ERYKA: I was thinking… It’s not even an hour drive to Calais from here, so I thought...  If I buy this house… We could live here together. You could drive to Calais to work.

 

_ Éliseturns around towards her. She swallows but doesn’t answer. _

 

ERYKA (cont’d): What do you think?

 

ÉLISE: I… er… I don’t think I can do this.

 

ERYKA: It’s just an idea, if you’d prefer to stay in Calais, we can also just see each other…

 

ÉLISE: No, I don’t think I want any of this anymore at all.

 

ERYKA ( _ confusedly _ ): What do you mean?

 

ÉLISE: I don’t think I can be together with you anymore!

 

ERYKA: What…?!

 

ÉLISE: I’m sorry.

 

ERYKA  _ (surprised, rather than sad or shocked) _ : Why?

 

ÉLISE: I can’t be with someone who does... the things you do…

 

_ Eryka stares at her for some seconds, then: _

 

ERYKA: Oh, come on... You always knew what I was doing. It was never an issue for you. Why do you come up with this NOW?

 

ÉLISE: It was ALWAYS an issue for me! I just succeeded to ignore it. But that became increasingly difficult once I firsthand witnessed the consequences of what you do. I met Inese Anderson’s family and saw Mark Harris’s wife ...and Gracie...

 

_ Eryka shakes her head in confusion. _

 

ERYKA: Didn’t we agree just yesterday that we both have to accept certain undesirable consequences of our jobs? That what we do isn’t so different! Both sides…

 

ÉLISE: Oh, don’t start with this “Both sides are the same”-shit again! I work for a democratic state with a functioning justice system, so it’s judges and laws who determine who goes to prison and not as I see fit. To keep that system functioning, I sometimes have to accept that someone might go to prison who I don’t agree deserves it.

You murder people to keep a bunch of corrupt millionaires in Moscow in power! How’s that the same?! 

 

_ Eryka starts to laugh ironically. _

 

ERYKA: Oh, Élise, cut the crap! Don’t pretend that you're so engaged in your job because you're defending any constitutional values or crap like that! You just love the hunt! You're obsessed with finding out what happened and getting the guy who did it! You don't give a shit about the victims or about serving justice or any other fucking noble purpose one could claim to see behind it!

 

_ Élise stares back at her angrily. Not knowing what to answer, because she knows Eryka is right. _

 

ERYKA (cont’d): Do you know why Inese Anderson ended up on the list?

 

ÉLISE: Revenge… for something she did ages ago when Latvia had just gained independence...

 

_ Eryka snorts ironically. _

 

ERYKA: Yeah, right…

She did get recruited by the Latvian secret service when she was studying in Lille, because one other exchange students from Latvia she was friends with was Sergei Selepov who was the son of the leader of the political party of the Russian minority in Latvia. Apparently the secret service succeeded in convincing her that it was of uttermost importance for Latvia’s security that they knew what was going on in that party and especially what kind of connections they had with Russia itself.

She was supposed to seduce Sergei, become his girlfriend, which apparently she agreed to but didn’t follow through with because - as she said - soon after she met Mike Anderson and wasn’t willing to get together with Sergei instead just for the sake of spying on him.

What she didn’t tell the Latvians was that apparently Sergei had confined in her that there wasn’t really a point in trying to seduce him anyway since he was gay. Considering the atmosphere concerning homosexuality in Russia and in Latvia it says a lot about how close they must have been if he trusted her with this information and if she didn’t tell anyone including the secret service one word about it.

 

Sergei went back to Latvia and followed in his father's footsteps and went into politics as a firm supporter of the rights of the Russian minority in Latvia. However contrary to his father he had very few ties to Russia and was very much in favour of Latvia being part of the EU and to align with the West. He just wanted the Russians in Latvia to be able to equally take part in that.

 

In the meantime Inese Andersson became increasingly unsatisfied with her life as a middle school teacher, a wife of a mediocre successful businessman in Southern Kent with an annoyingly nerdy son.

She apparently also didn’t to want to become a divorced middle school teacher and the ex-wife of a mediocre successful businessman in Southern Kent with an  annoyingly nerdy son instead… Because a few months ago she anonymously sent an email to her old contact in the Latvian secret service and informed them about Sergei Selepov’s big secret and told them she had proof of it. I suppose she had letters he wrote to her, where he mentions it or whatever it was.

She wanted a lot of money for it and with that she intended to disappear and start over without her family.

 

The Latvians were very thrilled about that offer, which they let her know immediately but they waited in vain for her to get back to them, because the information about her mail was among the material I transferred to the Russians and while the Latvians still waited for their anonymous source to get back to them, our team traced back the email within a few hours.

 

ÉLISE: And they had you kill her before she could negotiate the details?

 

ERYKA: Yes… 

 

ÉLISE: That’s why they didn’t even know she had died: The last time they had officially been in contact with her had actually been years ago and they didn’t know, that the person who contacted them about Sergei Serpolov had been her.

 

ERYKA: When she didn’t get back to them in weeks, I suppose that they started to trace the mail and eventually found out who the source was. They probably found out at about the same time that they heard that you had some tissue and blood checked for polonium.

So they put two and two together.

 

ÉLISE: And after you murdered her, you went to her house to find the letters. That’s why the neighbour saw a flashlight in her room...

 

ERYKA: I don’t know… As I said an assignment is always given to the person who has a reason to be in the area anyway so if ever someone checks where you were there’s a reasonable explanation. I accompanied a Latvian delegation to Paris to translate during some negotiations right at that time, so I got to administer the polonium to her.

Someone else who had a plausible reason to be in Kent probably got the assignment get the letters...

 

_ Élise looks at her inquiringly. _

 

ÉLISE: Why would the Latvians be interested in getting information to harm Sergei Selopov, if what he wants is to emphasis the ties of the Russian minority with Latvia instead of with Russia?

Isn’t that what would be desirable for the Latvians as well?

 

_ Eryka snorts. _

 

ERYKA: Of course that’s what they claim they want and I suppose some’d honestly appreciate such a development, but there are other forces who still need the Russians as the bogeyman to pursue their goals.

It can always come handy to have someone who might become inconvenient for you by the barrel. In Latvia or Russia such an information about his sexuality still means the end of his career.

If they’d threaten to make it public they can easily influence Selopov’s political moves and the general direction in which he’s leading his party.

 

_ Élise thinks for a few seconds. _

 

ÉLISE  _ (ironically) _ : Even if the Russians could prevent the information about his sexuality from becoming public, I can hardly imagine that they themselves were very thrilled to get to know that one of the representatives of their people in Latvia was gay?

 

ERYKA: No they weren’t…

 

ÉLISE: So what happened?

 

ERYKA: They made him resign. I suppose they feared that some rumours might get out anyway and harm the reputation of the whole party and maybe even of all the Latvian Russians that it represents.

The party is claiming he resigned for health reasons…

I suppose the Russians weren’t exactly sad about it by the way considering that now the wing of the party that is proponing stronger ties to Russia might gain impact again...

 

_ Élise snorts. _

 

ÉLISE  _ (ironically) _ : So instead of the Latvians getting rid of him - thanks to you now the Russians did that for them…

 

ERYKA _ (angrily) _ : The point is: Inese Anderson didn’t fight for her country on its way to democracy or whatever romantic idea you have about her. She just wanted money to get away from her husband who had become too boring and from her son who had become too weird and for that she sold an old friend who had once trusted her.

Plus that the secret service of the EU’s model student in Eastern Europe planned to blackmail a politician because he was gay to keep him from continuing to advocate for the right of an ethnic minority.

So don’t tell me that your side is in any way morally superior to mine! They're just better and more eager to hide what they're doing! I prefer the side that at least admits that they are willing to do all that necessary to reach their goal.

 

ÉLISE  _ (condescendingly) _ : Oh, don’t pretend that you consciously chose your side! You just ended up with the people who happened to get you out of your misery at Colonia Dignidad and up to now you just never had the strength to question that liaison.

 

_ Élise and Eryka stare at each other. Eryka looks at her in disbelief. After a while: _

 

ERYKA:You have no idea what...!

I’m very sorry that you always were the odd girl and that in ninth grade all the halv veelas in your class were mean to you, but when I was supposed to be in ninth grade my main concern was if the next week would go by without getting raped… again.

So I hope you understand that my choices might have been focused on... 

  
ÉLISE  _ (interrupting her) _ :Quarter veelas!

 

ERYKA  _ (disbelievingly) _ : What?!

 

ÉLISE: Fleur Delacour’s mother was a half veela, so she herself was just a quarter veela…

 

_ Eryka stares at her for a moment. _

 

ERYKA: Do you seriously think this is the moment to show off your fancy Asperger pedantries?!

 

ÉLISE  _ (confused) _ : I don’t… _ (She stops talking) _

 

_ They just look at each other for a few seconds. Eryka succeeds to calm down a little. _

 

ERYKA ( _ softly _ ): Élise, this really isn’t about whose side is right and about any moral concerns, isn’t it? When you read the news, you...

 

_ A sudden noise at the door, the door flies open, as does a window in the kitchen. Heavily armed policemen in black uniforms and with skimasks rush in. If you take the time to count it’s about ten people, but in the chaos and the small cabin it seems like they’re a hundred. _

 

POLICEMAN  _ (shouting) _ : À terre, á terre! Down on the floor!

 

_ Élise and Eryka both are paralyzed of surprise so they can’t do what they’re ordered, before the policemen reach them and tackle them down on the floor. _

_ Beside the two policemen who hold them down, two other policemen are holding two automatic pistols aimed at them. _

 

_ After just a few seconds of noise and action everything becomes quiet again, the scene seems like frozen, no one is moving. _

 

_ Cut to: _

CLOSE-UP OF ÉLISE’S AND ERYKA’S FACES

 

_ They are facing each other, their heads pressed down on the floor by gloved hands of the policemen, they stare at each other, still shocked and overwhelmed by what just happened. _


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't seen season 3 yet, but I guess this story is officially AU now...  
> From what I hear season 3 doesn't exactly meet many people's expectations to say the least. So I hope you like this alternative version better.
> 
> Sorry, this took so long. I have a lot on my plate as always, but I won't abandon this story. Updates will continue to come, slowly but surely.
> 
> PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!

**OUTSIDE OF ERYKA’S HOUSE BETWEEN THE DUNES**

 

_ In the background the cabin on top of the dune, the wooden stairway leading down to the little parking area where Élise’s and Eryka’s cars a parked. On the area and along the side of the path leading up to it several police cars. Some policemen are busily running around. _

_ Élise and Eryka, both handcuffed, are being lead down the stairway. _

_ In the foreground Karl and Olivier standing by their car. Both look unhappy and strained, even though this is the arrest they have been working towards. _

_ Élise looks up and sees them; she hastily looks away again. _

 

_ Élise and Eryka are set into the back of one car each. The cars drive away. When they pass by Olivier and Karl, the camera focuses on the windows Élise and Eryka are sitting behind. _

_ Eryka stares angrily through the window at Karl and Olivier; Élise stares straight ahead to not have to look at them. _

 

_ When the cars have disappeared behind the next dune, another car comes driving from that direction. A man with a camera and a woman get out. The man with the camera starts to take pictures. _

_ Karl runs towards them. _

 

KARL: No, no, no!

 

_ Olivier shouts towards the policemen: _

 

OLIVIER: Il faut un barrage! Maintenant! (SUBTITLES: We need a perimeter! Now!)

  
  


**INSIDE THE POLICE CAR TRANSPORTING ERYKA**

 

_ Eryka stares out of the window into the autumnal landscape. It’s raining. _

  
  


**INSIDE THE POLICE CAR TRANSPORTING ÉLISE**

 

_ Élise stares out of the window. She looks to the front. She realises the policeman driving is staring at her in the rearview mirror. She hastily looks away. _

  
  


**INSIDE OF KARL’S CAR**

 

_ Karl is driving through the French landscape, Olivier is on the passenger seat. The radio is running. We hear the news. _

 

RADIO:  _ FRENCH TO COME…. _ (SUBTITLES: A police operation took place today in an area of vacation homes right outside of Boulogne-sur-Mer. Several heavily armed special forces were involved. It is presumed that the operation is linked to a series of murders with a radioactive substance, that got known yesterday. Whether a suspect got arrested is still ...)

 

_ Olivier reaches out to the radio and switches it off. Karl and Olivier both stare straight ahead and don’t look at each other. _

 

_ After a while: _

 

OLIVIER:  You can’t be part of this investigation anymore, you’re too close to Élise… And she is too involved in this now…

 

KARL: And you…? And all of her colleagues?

 

OLIVIER: This will be a secret service investigation from now on anyway. The police will just be bystanders and groundworkers now.

 

_ They drive on in silence. After a while: _

 

KARL: I want to be present at the interrogations even if I can’t play an official part in it. Élise trusts me, it might help to make her talk… And get her out of this...

 

_ Oliver snorts, not really believing that there is a realistic chance for that. _

 

_ \---------------------- _

 

**ESTABLISHING SHOT OF THIS BUILDING:**

 

[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lubyanka_Square#/media/File:Lubyanka_CDM_view_from_Panoramic_view_point_05-2015_img03.jpg ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lubyanka_Square#/media/File:Lubyanka_CDM_view_from_Panoramic_view_point_05-2015_img03.jpg)

  
  


**AN OFFICE**

 

_ An overweight man wearing an expensive looking suit is sitting at a desk. It’s a big, very impressive corner office. _

_ A man, smaller, but also in a very formal suit, appears in the open door, a paper in hand. He knocks at the doorpost. The other man looks up. _

_ The smaller man gets in and closes the door. _

 

SMALLER MAN: *Russian to come* (SUBTITLES: Eryka Klein got arrested.)

 

_ The larger man looks unimpressed. _

 

LARGER MAN: *Russian to come* (SUBTITLES: Yeah… I’ve heard about that…)

 

SMALLER MAN (hesitantly): *Russian to come* (SUBTITLES: What are we going to do?)

 

LARGER MAN: *Russian to come* (SUBTITLES: Well… For all the Westerners know she hasn’t worked for us in years, hasn’t she? They would start to wonder if we’d start to get involved now, wouldn’t they?)

 

SMALLER MAN (hesitantly): *Russian to come* (SUBTITLES: But… Will you just leave her there?!)

 

_ The larger man starts reading some of the papers on his desk again, demonstrating disinterest. _

 

LARGER MAN: *Russian to come* (SUBTITLES: If we get involved we would kind of confirm that she’s still one of our people, wouldn’t it?)

 

SMALLER MAN: *Russian to come* (SUBTITLES: What if she… _ (He hesitates.) _ Isn’t there a risk that she… talks?

 

LARGER MAN  _ (calm, but threatening tone _ ): *Russian to come* (SUBTITLES: I think she’s too smart to do that, don’t you think?)

 

_ He looks up at the guy at the door again. _

 

LARGER MAN: *Russian to come* (SUBTITLES: Please close the door when you leave!)

  
  


\----------------------

 

**AN INTERROGATION ROOM AT THE CALAIS POLICE STATION**

 

_ Eryka is sitting at the table. Olivier, Karl,  _ _ Certainly-not-Bērziņa and Certainly-not-Miller get in. They sit down. _

 

OLIVIER: Ms. Klein… That’s how we meet again…

 

ERYKA: Why am I here?!

 

OLIVIER: What do you think?

 

ERYKA  _ ( not threatening, just seriously giving him advice): _ I think also for your agency it’s of your best interest if we continue to emphasize our very successful cooperation when Baturin got arrested! I don’t know why you want to open this investigation again, but if you do, you can hardly prevent information concerning our deal getting….

 

OLIVIER  _ (interrupting her) _ : You’re hardly here because of that old plane crash story…

 

ERYKA ( _ surprised _ ): Then why am I here?!

 

_ Certainly-not-Bērziņa  _ _ puts out photographs of all the polonium-murder victims on the table. _

 

CERTAINLY-NOT-MILLER : You know these people?

 

_ Eryka looks at the photographs. She points at the picture of Inese Anderson.  _

 

ERYKA: She was on the news yesterday. Élise told me that it was the case she was working on, before she came to see me. What do I have to do with this?!

 

_ Certainly-not-Bērziņa _ _ smiles ironically.  _

 

CERTAINLY-NOT-BĒRZIŅA : Let's start at the beginning… You disappeared three years ago after Baturin got arrested. Where did you go?

 

_ Eryka looks at them reluctantly for a moment, then she opens her mouth to talk. _

  
  


\----------------------

 

**A CORRIDOR IN FRONT OF THE INTERROGATION ROOMS**

 

_ Élise walks through a corridor, a policemen beside her. Olivier on the other side. No cuffs, they’re not leading her, they still treat her a little more generous than a normal person in this situation. _

_ At the end of the corridor a door opens. Eryka gets out, her hands cuffed in front of her, accompanied by  _ _ Certainly-not-Bērziņa  _ _ and another police officer. She is lead along the corridor towards Élise. _

_ Élise looks up and sees her. They look at each other, while they walk towards each other. Élise’s face stays blank; Eryka eagerly maintains eye contact. _

_ When the two groups have gotten close to each other, Eryka suddenly shoves off her two guards and rushes a few steps towards Élise. _

 

ERYKA: Élise!

 

_ She tries to hug her as much as that is possible with the cuffs. Élise seems taken by surprise. She lifts her arm to Eryka’s back like a reflex, but doesn’t really hug her back. Her face still expressionless. _

 

_ The police officers drag the two away from each other after just a second. _

_ Both groups walk on after the incident, this time Olivier and the police officer have Élise grabbed by her arms. Élise turns around again and looks at Eryka who is being let away. Eryka stares back at her intensely, before she disappears around a corner. _

  
  


**THE INTERROGATION ROOM**

 

_ Élise and her interrogators sit down at the table. _

_ Karl beside Élise in the place you usually would expect the lawyer to sit. Olivier and  _ _ Certainly-not-Bērziņa on the other side of the table. Élise looks very insecure, vulnerable and unhappy. _

 

C ERTAINLY-NOT-BĒRZIŅA:  Do you know the name of the person that was with you, when we arrested you?

 

ÉLISE  _ (silently, staring at the table in front of her) _ : Ehm… Her name is Eryka Klein… But I think she wasn’t using that name in quite a while...

 

C ERTAINLY-NOT-BĒRZIŅA: What is your relationship with her?

 

ÉLISE  _ (silently): _ I suppose you already searched my flat. You already collected DNA-traces from my flat… from my bed. Either you have the results already or they will come soon… So... I don’t have to tell you…

 

C ERTAINLY-NOT-BĒRZIŅA:  You met her, when you investigated that plane crash a few years ago. Did you get together back then already?

 

_ Élise slowly nods her head. _

 

C ERTAINLY-NOT-BĒRZIŅA: Please answer for the tape.

 

ÉLISE  _ (quietly) _ : Yes…

 

_ Élise stares at the table in front-of her. _

_ Certainly-not-Bērziņa  _ _ flips through the papers lying on the table in front of her. _

 

C ERTAINLY-NOT-MILLER: She was a suspect back then. It’s not exactly professional to hook up with a suspect, isn’t it?

 

_ She looks challengingly at Élise. _ _ Élise doesn’t answer. _

 

C ERTAINLY-NOT-BĒRZIŅA: What can you tell me about what she’s doing today.

 

ÉLISE  _ (whispering) _ : Nothing...

 

C ERTAINLY-NOT-BĒRZIŅA: Nothing?! You are lovers! How can you not know what she’s doing? Where she lives…? What she’s working with…?

 

_ She looks at Élise. Élise doesn’t answer. _

 

C ERTAINLY-NOT-BĒRZIŅA: If you had no suspicion that there was something fishy about her, why did you keep her a secret? Why didn’t any of your colleagues  _ (She points at Olivier and Karl) _ know about her? You don’t seem like someone  who would feel an affair with a woman is something that you need to keep hidden!

 

_ Élise looks up at Karl and Olivier, then stares back at the table again. _

 

C ERTAINLY-NOT-BĒRZIŅA: Did you work with her? Were you her mole in the French police to keep her up to date about our progress and to protect her?

Or did you just accidentally end up in this case and it was just when you found out that you were - once again - investigating your lover, that you started to hold back evidence and…

 

_ Karl interrupts her,  _ _ Certainly-not-Bērziņa  _ _ looks angrily at him for a second but then lets him talk. _

 

KARL: Élise, we know what she did! There is no way for her to get out of this!

The only question that remains is how much you knew about it! If you don’t talk to us we need to start from the premise that you were involved in everything from the beginning! I think you know what that would mean for you!

 

_ He looks at her urgently. _

_ Élise looks at him cloudily. She swallows. _

 

ÉLISE  _ (hesitantly, silently) _ : We met in secret because… she was hiding from Baturin…

 

_ Olivier raises his eyebrows disbelievingly. _

 

ÉLISE (cont’d): We… ehm… fell in love during the investigation concerning… the plane crash. I broke up with her when the suspicion came up that she might somehow be involved in the crash, but after…  _ (She hesitates for a moment) _ I wasn’t involved in that investigation in the end, because I was on sick leave… But from what I know it was never really resolved what happened and who might have been responsible. And she and her Russian team even gave you Baturin, didn’t she!?

 

_ She looks at Olivier, Karl,  _ _ Certainly-not-Miller _ _ and  _ _ Certainly-not-Bērziņa. They look very sceptical. _

 

ÉLISE (cont’d _ , she speaks up now, confidently _ ): She wasn’t a suspect anymore, so after some time I contacted her again and we… we started to meet again…

  
  


Cut to:

**INTERROGATION ROOM - PREVIOUSLY, DURING ERYKA’S INTERROGATION**

 

ERYKA: The Russians settled me in Latvia, with a backstory that fitted my accent and a job that fitted my profile to protect me from Baturin’s people.

 

_ She looks at Olivier, Karl and  _ _ Certainly-not-Bērziņa. They look very sceptical. _

 

ERYKA (cont’d): I think that’s what every secret service and every police force does for people who worked for them and who end up under threat from criminals or former opponents, don’t they? 

  
  


**Cut back to:**

**ÉLISE’S INTERROGATION**

 

ÉLISE (cont’d): Someone like Baturin has a lot of people working for him. His organisation is still there even when he is in prison. So the Russians provided her with a fake identity so she could hide. We met in secret always presuming that Baturin was after her; maybe trying to find her through me. Never leaving any traces, never telling anyone.

 

CERTAINLY-NOT- BĒRZIŅA ( _ skeptically _ ): What did she tell you about where she lived and what she did?

 

ÉLISE: What I told you… That she had to hide from Baturin and that the Russians had provided her with a secret identity to protect her. She never told me any details - for her and my protection.

  
  


**Cut back to:**

**ERYKA’S INTERROGATION**

 

CERTAINLY-NOT- BĒRZIŅA: Then you started to see Élise Wassermann again… What did you tell her about what you did?

 

ERYKA: Nothing! She knew that I was hiding from Baturin and we agreed that it was safer for both of us if I didn’t tell her anything more that that.

She was the only connection to my old identity. That’s why she could never leave any traces leading towards me.

I taught her how to check if someone might follow her car, she never paid with cards on her visits, we always booked the rooms solely on my name and we never used any electronic communication that might get hacked.

 

CERTAINLY-NOT-MILLER: Where did you meet?

  
  


**Cut back to:**

**ÉLISE’S INTERROGATION**

 

ÉLISE: We met in different hotels, in different cities. Often in Belgium or the Netherlands. Sometimes in France or Germany. But also in London, Warshaw...

 

CERTAINLY-NOT- BĒRZIŅA: You never wanted to know more about what she was doing? Where she was living?

  
  


**Cut back to:**

**ERYKA’S INTERROGATION**

 

ERYKA: I spent almost half of my time in Brussels, because I often worked there, so I wasn’t very far away from Calais. We always met in hotels. I avoided Brussels itself because we might have run into people I knew, but we often met somewhere in the vicinity of Brussels.

When I accompanied officials to meetings in other cities I stayed a day or two longer, taking out some vacation days and telling people I wanted to stay longer to do some sight seeing. I thought it was safer if our meetings didn’t follow any pattern and that chances were best to not get recognized and remembered if we didn’t stay in the same places too often.

 

OLIVIER: And she was ok with not knowing anything more about you?

 

_ Eryka smiles. _

 

ERYKA: It’s hard to keep things from Élise… But I think she accepted that it was safer if she didn’t know… So I don’t think she tried to find out more about me than I told her...

  
  


**Cut back to:**

**ÉLISE’S INTERROGATION**

 

ÉLISE: I sometimes got curious… I once saw the name on the credit card she paid with… So I knew the name she was living with...

 

KARL: What was that name?

 

ÉLISE: Kristina Hamann… It sounded German. It was plausible that they gave a background story that fitted her real identity.

I was tempted to google that name sometimes and I sometimes wondered whether she lived in Belgium and that’s because we often met there. Or if she just chose those places because it was easy for me to get there… The credit card was from a Latvian bank, so I thought she might live in Latvia.

I tried not to follow those thoughts. I accepted that it was safer not to know and I still think it was a sensible decision.

  
  


**Cut back to:**

**ERYKA’S INTERROGATION**

 

CERTAINLY-NOT- BĒRZIŅA: The Russians fixed you a job as a translator and interpreter with the Latvian representation of the EU! You translated hundreds of documents and acted as interpreter in several confidential meetings concerning the formation of the Euro Force. You were present in discussions concerning the strategies of the European military in the Baltic countries… You had access to loads of secret content. What did you do with those information?

 

ERYKA: Nothing! I didn’t work for the Russians anymore! They just provided me with my new identity. From that point on I had no contact with them anymore whatsoever!

 

CERTAINLY-NOT- BĒRZIŅA: You seriously expect me to belief that they just happened to put you in such a position, if they didn’t have any intention of using that?!

 

ERYKA: I speak four languages on native speaker level and additionally five on conversational level. If you had to build a suitable cover identity for a person like that, I suppose you would make her an interpreter as well, wouldn’t you?

 

OLIVIER: You could have worked for any company doing international trade. Even if you worked in a public position you could have translated economic treaties or shit like that! Why would the Russians go through the trouble of providing you with a background story that’s so water tight that you would pass the security check that is necessary for a job like  _ that _ ?!

 

ERYKA: I don’t know, you’ll have to ask them!

 

OLIVIER: Why did they place you in Latvia of all places, where obviously the Russians have a pretty intense interest to get information from?

 

ERYKA: As I said: I don’t know. I just asked them for a cover identity to settle down with safely. I have no idea, why they chose that one.

 

CERTAINLY-NOT- BĒRZIŅA: All of the material you had access to happend to get transferred to the Russians… How do you explain that?!

 

ERYKA: Just because the stuff the Russians got to know about happened to be data I had access to doesn’t prove that I gave it to them. There are certainly many other people who had access to it as well and who might have sold it.

 

CERTAINLY-NOT- BĒRZIŅA: You realise that that would be an almost ridiculous coincidence?!

 

ERYKA: That still doesn’t make it untrue. It wasn’t me!

 

_ The three interviews look at each other. They don’t believe a word she says. _

_ Certainly-not-Bērziņa sighs.  _

  
  


**Cut back to:**

**ÉLISE’S INTERROGATION**

OLIVIER: Even if she didn’t tell you about the details of what she was doing, you still knew that she was involved with the Russians, so you…

 

ÉLISE  _ (interrupting him) _ : She wasn’t anymore! She had quit! Her only involvement with them at that point was that they had given her her new identity to hide with.

 

_ Olivier, Karl and  _ _ Certainly-not-Bērziņa look at her skeptically. _

 

OLIVIER: You believed that?

 

ÉLISE: I still do!

 

_ The interrogators look even more skeptical. _

 

CERTAINLY-NOT- BĒRZIŅA: She worked in a position that gave her access to many secret information…What do you think why she would end up in just such a job, if all she wanted is to keep a low profile to hide from Baturin?

 

ÉLISE: How am I supposed to know, why the Russians did what they did…?

 

_ The interrogators throw disbelieving glances at each other. _

  
  


**Back to:**

**ERYKA’S INTERROGATION**

 

CERTAINLY-NOT- BĒRZIŅA: We checked your… or Kristina Hamann’s credit cards… We know that you always paid for your and Élise’s meetings… You stayed in pretty fancy hotels… Had pretty fancy dinners… The job of a translator doesn’t leave you poor but I can hardly imagine that it pays that well?!

 

ERYKA: I earned pretty well before I quit with the Russians… I’ve got lots of money left from that time...

 

CERTAINLY-NOT- BĒRZIŅA: How did you communicate? How did you arrange your meetings?

  
  


**ÉLISE’S INTERROGATION**

 

ÉLISE: Not at all… We… We agreed on a place and a time for our next meeting each time before we left. Eryka decided that all means of communication were too risky because they could be monitored. She took all the decisions about the precautions we should stick to. I trusted her that she knew what she was talking about and went along with what she told me.

 

OLIVIER: You never wondered how she could pay for those high-end hotels and restaurants? Did you never think that she still must have had some additional, very well paying source of income?

 

ÉLISE: She could still have had a very high paying job even if she had a secret identity and was hiding, couldn’t she? And she used to work for the Russians… So I presumed she might have money left from that time even if by now she might not earn that much anymore.

 

CERTAINLY-NOT- BĒRZIŅA: You’ve got an answer to everything, don’t you?

 

ÉLISE: It’s just how it was!

 

_ Her three interrogators look at her a little helplessly. _

 

OLIVIER: You seriously expect us to believe you that you were completely clueless?

 

ÉLISE _ (intensely) _ : There is nothing to be clueless about! She had quit! She didn’t do anything!

 

_ Certainly-not-Bērziņa puts a list of the dates and places of the murders on the table in front of her. _

 

CERTAINLY-NOT- BĒRZIŅA:   _ (annoyedly, impatiently) _ : We have proof for four of the polonium murders that she was in the city in question when it happened! How do you explain that?!

  
  


**ERYKA’S INTERROGATION**

 

_ Eryka is holding the paper with the list of the dates and places of the murders in her hand.  _

 

ERYKA: ... and in Stockholm there was a meeting of the European Defense Secretaries on that day. I was there for the Latvian delegation as an interpreter.

You can check with my employer: I didn’t plan any of those trips myself.. If I would have gotten the assignment to murder someone somewhere, I could hardly wait until my employer happened to send me there, could I?!

_ (She points at one of the other dates.) _ I was at a meeting in Berlin on that day when the murder in Turin happened. I happen to know that. I have to take a look at my diary for the other dates, but I’m pretty sure I have people who can testify that I was in Riga or Brussels or somewhere else on those dates!

I have alibis for the majority of these murders.

 

_ Certainly-not-Bērziņa sighs and shakes her head. _

  
  


**ÉLISE’S INTERROGATION**

 

ÉLISE ( _ looking at the list.)  _ But there were ten murders, weren’t there? Or more even, we don’t know about yet…? What about the other six?

 

KARL  _ (losing his patience) _ : Élise, don’t be ridiculous! Even if we can’t prove it for the other six yet… What are the odds of her being in the cities where the murders happened in FOUR occasions?!

 

_ Élise looks at him intensely. _

 

ÉLISE:  She traveled a lot for her job, didn’t she? I suppose that’s why we met in so many different cities, because it was easiest for her to secretly meet me when she was traveling.

Considering where we met, she often stayed in big cities, in the capitals... I suppose? It’s not that odd then, that she visited Stockholm, Paris, London and Brussels.

 

OLIVIER: And accidently just on those dates?

 

_ He points at the paper lying on the table, still not believing that Élise expects them to believe this. _

 

ÉLISE: Was she sent to those cities for her job or did she arrange the trips herself? Because if she was sent there she couldn’t influence where she was going. What are the odds that the city she was sent to for her job happened to be the one where the Russians wanted her to murder someone at just that point?!

 

OLIVIER ( _ annoyedly _ ): Élise, you sound like you want to convince your colleagues that we got the wrong suspect! In case you forgot: You are not part of the investigating team anymore! You are yourself a suspect for connivance and obstruction of justice! You should see to it, that you save your own head, because Eryka Klein has no chance to get out of this anyway!

 

ÉLISE: Really?! What real evidence do you have?! This _ (She points at the list) _ is nothing!

 

\---------------------------

  
  


**CONFERENCE ROOM**

 

_ All the people that were at Élise’s and Eryka’s interrogations sit together. They look pretty helpless. _

 

OLIVIER: You have to give them credit: They got their stories straight…

 

KARL: There wasn’t much to get straight… Aside from the fact that Ms. Klein claims that she didn’t work for the Russians anymore and that Élise claims to have believed that Baturin was the reason they had to meet in secret, it probably was the truth: How their relationship started, how they met…

It’s the high art of lying to stick to the truth as much as possible and just lie about the part that you need to lie about.

 

CERTAINLY-NOT- BĒRZIŅA: Up to now they have just talked about their own roles in the story. When we get to the part where they both need to lie about the same events, we’ll get them!

 

CERTAINLY-NOT-MILLER _ (holding up a paper) _ : We got the analysis from Klein’s phone: It was equipped with high-end-technology. Everytime you erase a massage or a call from your history the phone automatically writes some irrelevant crap to the same memory location. It’s impossible to restore anything. So we’ve got no idea with whom she might have communicated.

 

OLIVIER: There's nothing like that on Élise’s phone and we actually couldn't find any traces of that she communicated with Eryka Klein in any way, so it seems to be true, that they only met in person and always agreed on the next meeting in advance.

 

CERTAINLY-NOT- BĒRZIŅA: Why do you wonder about that? She doesn't deny her affair with Ms. Klein. It hardly makes a difference if they only met in person or if they also talked on the phone or send messages to each other, so why should she lie about that part of their relationship?

 

OLIVIER: I’m not sure… It seems awfully inflexible, doesn't it? What if one of them couldn't make it and would have had to reschedule?

 

CERTAINLY-NOT- MILLER: But it made for one less possibility for someone to get on to them. So…  _ (He looks down on the paper obviously wanting to get to other more important issues.) _

We asked Ms. Klein why she still has such a phone if she’s a loyal citizen by now and she claims that she just has it left from the time when she used to be a spy. The phone actually is that old, so like the rest of her story: It would be a big coincidence but it’s not impossible.

 

OLIVER: The problem is, that in court it doesn’t help when you say “these are too many coincidences!”, as long as it is possible that it’s just coincidences, we still don’t get her!

 

CERTAINLY-NOT-MILLER: They are still processing...

  
  


Cut to:

ÉLISE’S AND ERYKA’S HOLIDAY CABIN

 

_ People in white overalls are busily walking around. Distributing fingerprint dust, putting things that might be evidence in bags. _

 

CERTAINLY-NOT-MILLER (cont’d,  _ voiceover) _ : ...Élise Wassermann’s flat, the holiday cabin, Ms. Klein’s flat in Riga and the apartment she stayed in in Brussels. I’m pretty confident, that we will find something somewhere.

 

_ The camera focuses on Eryka’s suitcase (the one we saw in the prologue, when she visited Élise) that is lying on the floor beside the bed in the loft bedroom, lid open. A guy in a white overall crouches down beside it, closes to lid, puts it into a large plastic bag and seals the bag. _

 

_ The screen fades to black. _

 

_ \--------------------- _

 

**A PRELIMINARY HOLDING CELL**

 

_ Élise is sitting on the bed, knees drawn up to her chest. Her head rests on her knees. We hear a key in the door. Élise lifts her head. _

_ The door opens. Karl gets in. He nods towards the prison guard who let him hin. The guard closes the door behind him. Karls walks over towards Élise and sits down beside her on the bed, leaning against the wall. _

_ For some time noone says anything. After a while: _

 

KARL: We sent an information request to Russia. They answered that Eryka Klein used to work for their intelligence service; they called attention to the successful cooperation that let to Artem Barturin’s arrest, but that they helped her to settle in a civilian life shortly afterwards and have had no contact with her ever since.

 

_ Élise looks at him questioning, defiantly. Karl sighs. _

 

KARL (cont’d): Élise, I don’t need to tell you that even the Russians don’t expect us to really believe that!

You might have a chance that we believe you, that you didn’t know what she was up to or that we at least have no possibility to proof that you did. But if you continue to insist that you still believe she just hid from Baturin and even try to convince us to believe that as well, you totally undermine your credibility!

She is too deep in the mud, she won’t get out of this anyway, but what good does it do if you end up in prison as well?!

 

_ Élise looks at him helplessly for some seconds. _

 

ÉLISE  _ (softly, shaky voice) _ : She can’t go to prison, Karl! I need to get her out!

 

Soft cross-fade to:

**ERYKA’S HOLDING CELL**

 

_ Eryka is standing at the door of the cell. The palms of her hand flat against the door, as if she is trying to feel if the door is really locked or if their might be the possibility to open it somehow. She is panting. The sound of panting gets louder and louder. We hear a ringing, squeaking sound, first almost inaudible in the background then getting louder and louder. Eryka squeezes her eyes shut, she swallows intently. _

  
  


The picture fades over to:

**A GIRL, ABOUT SEVEN YEARS OLD**

 

_ The girl is wearing an old fashioned, simple grey dress. She is standing at the door panting and in the same posture as Eryka in the scene before. Dark hair, dark eyes - the resemblance to adult-Eryka is obvious. _

_ We hear male voices in front of the door. _ The girl gets a startled look on her face.

 

Cut to the broader angle:

**AN OLD FASHIONEDLY FURNISHED ROOM**

 

_ The room is claustrophobicly small, there is only a tiny window, very high up in the wall opposite the door. There is a bed at one wall (at the same place the bed was located in Eryka’s holding cell), and a few shelves and a tiny table on the other side. _

We hear a key being turned in the door. The girl at the door hastily stumbles backwards, away from the door, but she stops after a few s _ teps. There’s nowhere to go anyway. _

_ The door opens. Three men get in. _

_ Man 1 wears an elegant and modern suit. The suits of the other two are outdated and don't seem to fit exactly right. Man 1 is taller than the others by a head. _

_ The girl looks at him. Scared, but not panicked. She’s beyond panicking, resigned. _

_ Man 1 slowly walks into the room. He stops a few steps in front of the girl. The other two men stay discreetly behind him at the door.  _

 

Man 1  _ (obvious American accent) _ : Well… Hello…!

 

_ He eyes her up appraisingly, salaciously.  _

 

AMERICAN ( _ to the two man, not taking his eyes off the girl _ ): I think I’ll be ok here… I’ll see you at dinner then, Gentlemen..!

 

_ Man 2 takes a few steps towards the girl, bending down to her. He strictly points his finger at her. _

 

MAN 2  _ (hissing _ ): Dies Mal machst du keinen Ärger! (SUBTITLES: Behave yourself this time!)

 

_ The girl nods eagerly. _

_ Man 2 retreats towards the door. Man 2 and 3 get out. The door snaps shot. The girl is alone with the American. He smiles at her salaciously. She takes a few steps back. The man is slowly approaching her. She bumps the back of her legs against the bed and can’t withdraw any further. He smiles even more. _

 

Cut back to:

**ERYKA’S HOLDING CELL**

 

_ Eryka is sitting in the corner of the bed, legs drawn up. Her head sunken down on her knees, she tries to breath slowly, trying to calm herself down. _

  
  


Cut back to:

**ÉLISE’S HOLDING CELL**

 

_ Élise and Karl still sitting side by side on the bed. _

 

ÉLISE _ (whispering): _ She can’t go to prison!


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **I updated the Archive Warning, but there are no details, just certain hints. They're in chapters 14 and 15.**
> 
> Well, in some way reality seems to have caught up with this story… A different poison but still…
> 
> Sorry once again, that this chapter took so long, but as always the days only have 24 hours and there is so much else that wants to be done.
> 
> There are some things in this chapter and in previous chapters that I would like to condense a little. Other things that would need to get a little more flow and where connections between diffrent parts of the story could be clearer.  
> But if I would try to fix all these things, I would never get anything new written. I guess that's what you get, if you read a WIP: It's kind of a draft. Not the first draft, exactly but if I ever find the time I might go over everything again and post a new revised and final version.  
> For now and until I have posted the last chapter this is it. I hope you like it anyway, even if its not perfect.
> 
> As always I would love to hear what you think of this chapter and what you think might happen next! So please let me know!
> 
> I hope I will be a little faster with the next chapter...

**AN INTERROGATION ROOM AT THE CALAIS POLICE STATION**

 

_ Olivier, Karl,  _ _ Certainly-not-Bērziņa and Certainly-not-Miller are sitting at a table. Eryka is brought in by a policeman in uniform. She is handcuffed. She sits down at the table. Certainly-not-Bērziņa  leads the interrogation.  _

 

CERTAINLY-NOT- BĒRZIŅA: You look tired. Didn’t you sleep well?

 

ERYKA: Not particularly, no...

 

_ Certainly-not-Bērziņa looks at some notes lying in front of her. _

 

CERTAINLY-NOT- BĒRZIŅA: You said that you and Ms. Wassermann avoided to meet in Brussels because you were scared of running into someone you knew when you were with her. But on the 4th of April last year you did meet in Brussels! Why?

 

ERYKA: I had a lot to do for weeks… We wouldn’t have seen each other for a very long time, if I had waited until I had time to get out of town again. So I decided to risk it… We mostly stayed at the hotel so we wouldn’t meet anyone.

  
  


**ÉLISE’S INTERROGATION**

 

_ Same people there to interrogate Élise. After Élise had seemed pretty confident at the end of yesterday’s interrogation, now she seems very insecure. _

_ Certainly-not-Bērziņa looks at her expectantly. The silence gets uncomfortable. _

 

ÉLISE: I… I don’t remember…

 

CERTAINLY-NOT- BĒRZIŅA ( _ unbelievingly _ ): You don’t remember if you ever met in Brussels?

 

ÉLISE: We… we did… But I don’t remember if it was the 4th of April… I will have to look up that date.

 

CERTAINLY-NOT- BĒRZIŅA: What did you do on that stay?

 

ÉLISE: We… It’s quite some time ago so I don’t know if I remember everything… I got there in the late evening, I think... 

 

OLIVIER: Where did you eat that evening?

 

ÉLISE: I don’t remember exactly, but I suppose, we ordered food from the room service…

 

OLIVIER  _ (interrupting her) _ : What did you have?

 

ÉLISE: Chips… I think… I usually have chips… I don’t remember what Eryka had.

 

OLIVIER: What did you do the next day?

 

ÉLISE: We slept in late the next morning. We stayed in the hotel during the day.

 

CERTAINLY-NOT- BĒRZIŅA: Why didn’t you leave the hotel?

 

_ Élise looks at her suspiciously. _

 

ÉLISE: We don’t go to the cities we stay at to do sightseeing...

  
  


**ERYKA’S INTERROGATION**

 

CERTAINLY-NOT- BĒRZIŅA: You said you met in Brussels because you didn’t have time to leave town, because of your work… But then you spent a whole day and two nights with Cpt. Wassermann just hanging out at a hotel room… That doesn’t sound to me like you could not have gone to another town? Maybe you couldn’t leave town because you had a murder to commit that day?

 

_ Eryka gets startled, but only for a few seconds. _

 

ERYKA: I went to work for a few hours during the day…

  
  


**ÉLISE’S INTERROGATION**

 

CERTAINLY-NOT- BĒRZIŅA: Did Ms. Klein stay with you the whole day?

 

_ Élise looks at her for a few seconds. _

 

ÉLISE: I think she left for some time… But it’s quite some time ago, I might confuse it with another visit...

 

CERTAINLY-NOT- BĒRZIŅA:  What did you do in the evening?

 

ÉLISE: We… went out…

 

CERTAINLY-NOT- BĒRZIŅA: Where?

 

ÉLISE: I don’t remember…

 

OLIVIER: The “Liberty” maybe?

 

ÉLISE: That was where Henrik Jansson got poisoned that evening, wasn’t it…? No, we weren’t there… Maybe Eryka remembers where we went, since she chose the place…

  
  


**ERYKA’S INTERROGATION**

 

_ Eryka  _ _ closes her eyes to concentrate… _

 

ERYKA: The Leeuwe Bar

 

KARL: You sure?

 

ERYKA: Yes!

 

OLIVIER: We checked your - or Kristina Hamann’s - credit card… That pub is not on the list for that evening.

 

ERYKA: I paid cash

 

OLIVIER: Why?

 

ERYKA: I forgot my credit card that weekend.

 

_ Certainly-not-Bērziņa raises her eyebrows. _

 

CERTAINLY-NOT- BĒRZIŅA: If we ask at that bar, will someone remember you?

 

ERYKA: I hardly think so. It was pretty long ago and it was pretty crowdy that evening. So if you don’t find someone who remembers us, that hardly proves that we weren’t there...

 

CERTAINLY-NOT- BĒRZIŅA: Why did you go out in the evening, if you told us, that you wanted to avoid to meet someone…?

 

ERYKA: We got bored… So I decided to risk it anyway.

  
  


**ÉLISE’S INTERROGATION**

 

OLIVIER: If we ask at the Liberty if someone remembers you, you are sure they won’t?

 

ÉLISE: Certainly not, because we weren’t there!

 

OLIVIER: The order Violetta Grigoryeva’s credit card paid for at the bar was chips with tabasco… You sure that wasn’t you?

 

_ Élise looks at her interrogators for a few seconds. Slowly getting how things got connected. _

 

ÉLISE: Is that how you made the connection? 

 

OLIVIER: Someone who worked at the bar and the hotel  remembered a similar food order at both places!

 

KARL: The meal at the bar got paid for with Violetta Grigoryeva’s credit card. The room at the hotel was booked on the name Kristina Hamann. The room was paid for with your credit card though. Can you explain to us, why that happened? You told us how eager you were not to leave any traces!

  
  


**ERYKA’S INTERROGATION**

 

ERYKA: I told you already I had forgotten my credit card that weekend, and I had used up all my cash at the bar, so I asked Élise to pay. It was as simple as that…

 

CERTAINLY-NOT- BĒRZIŅA: Maybe you had already packed  Violetta Grigoryeva’s credit card that you needed to leave a greeting to us after the murder. So you forget the one for Kristina Hamann? It can get confusing to handle several identities, can’t it?

 

ERYKA: No, I could have driven home to fetch it, but I just... 

I had requested my former employees just a few weeks earlier to check if I was still under any thread, because I had gotten so fed up with all the hiding at that point! I just wanted to live a normal life. They didn’t give the all clear signal, yet, but told me, that it seemed that Baturin’s network had weakened significantly.

I had gotten so tired of all these secrets, so that news was such a relief for me that I got careless… and had Élise pay...

  
  


**ÉLISE’S INTERROGATION**

 

ÉLISE: She told me that the situation seemed to have eased a little… So that she could ask me to use my credit card.

 

OLIVIER: You just believed her with that assessment?

 

ÉLISE: We were both very fed up with the hiding, so… Why wouldn’t I believe her? It was the first time that there was some kind of hope that things might change some day...

 

_ Certainly-not-Bērziņa _ _ raises her eyebrows. _

 

CERTAINLY-NOT- BĒRZIŅA: What do you mean “ things might change some day”?

 

_ Élise hesitates for a second. _

 

ÉLISE: She told me yesterday, that by now Baturin’s network is dissolved for good and that she doesn’t need to hide anymore. We talked about her moving to France… About living together without having to hide…

 

CERTAINLY-NOT- BĒRZIŅA:  So she planned to leave her other life?

 

ÉLISE: Yes.

  
  


**ERYKA’S INTERROGATION**

 

CERTAINLY-NOT- BĒRZIŅA:  So you planned to resign with the Russians?

 

ERYKA: I resigned three years ago! 

 

_ Certainly-not-Bērziņa _ _ just throws her a glance. _

 

ERYKA (cont’d): I am planning to leave my identity in Latvia…

 

CERTAINLY-NOT- BĒRZIŅA : How exactly do you plan to do that?

 

ERYKA: I don’t know… I suppose I will just give up my job in Riga. Find a reason for the people I knew there to explain why I leave and then Kristina Hamann would just cease to exist and Eryka Klein will reemerge…

I’m aware that you will certainly monitor me, when I settle in France… I can hardly blame you since you know who I used to work for… But I take that. I just don’t want to play hide and seek  anymore.

 

_ Certainly-not-Bērziņa  _ _ leans back and looks at her inquiringly for a while… _

 

CERTAINLY-NOT- BĒRZIŅA : You want to live with Elise Wassermann? That’s why you want to settle in France?

 

ERYKA: Yes. Is that a problem?

 

CERTAINLY-NOT- BĒRZIŅA : No… But… Then explain to me, what you did with Tobias Gantmann in Riga…?

 

_ Eryka looks from one to the other. All of them look at her expectantly… _

 

OLIVIER: You know a really plausible explanation is of course that you used him to get access to the Euroforce’s computer system and that’s what you needed him for. Why else would you start a relationship with him, when all you really wanted was to be with Élise…?

 

_ Eryka looks at them angryly. _

 

ERYKA: I obviously couldn’t be with Élise except for our secret meetings… So during the weeks and months I was in Latvia there was someone else… I don’t think I’m the only person in the world to have two relationships at the same time! If that would prove that I was a spy, there would be many spies in this world

 

CERTAINLY-NOT- BĒRZIŅA : Oh, I’m looking forward to get to know Élise’s opinion about that...

  
  


**ÉLISE’S INTERROGATION**

 

_ The interrogators look at Élise expectantly. She looks visibly shaken, then she slowly regains her composure.  _

 

ÉLISE: I don’t know… We never talked about… whether we would have other...

 

_ Karl looks at the table in front of him.  _ _ Certainly-not-Bērziņa _ _ looks very content with herself. _

 

CERTAINLY-NOT- BĒRZIŅA: Let me put it this way: Either you were the one she really loved and whom she really wanted to be together with and the relationship with Tobias Gantmann was just part of her assignment and she used him to get to the information she wanted.

But if she didn’t work as a spy anymore… as you claim... the relationship with Tobias Gantmann must have been real… And she was cheating on you…

Which version do you prefer?

 

_ Élise swallows. _

 

ÉLISE: I guess then she was cheating on me…

 

CERTAINLY-NOT- BĒRZIŅA  _ (thoughtfully _ ): Well, we should probably rather say, she was cheating on him, since they lived together, had a common circle of friends, she was at his father’s 70th birthday party… While she just met you occasionally to get off on some hotel…

 

_ Élise doesn’t react to that provocation. _

 

ÉLISE: I can’t tell you anything about the nature of her relationship with… Tobias Gantmann. You’ll have to ask her about that!

 

_ She found her composer again. She seems very convincing again from now on. _

_ Certainly-not-Bērziņa turns a few pages of her notes. _

 

CERTAINLY-NOT- BĒRZIŅA: On the day we arrived here you got a mail from the rental car company in Paris with the papers for the rental car that was on the CCTV from the service station Inese Andreson’s Bus stopped at. Those papers contained the name of the renter - V ioletta Grigoryeva - which provided us with the connection to the murder of Mark Harris, because the same name appeared on the list of credit cards used at the restaurant, where he got poisoned.

 

ÉLISE: Yes… So?

 

CERTAINLY-NOT- BĒRZIŅA: You got the mail at 10:24 am. But you only informed us about that in the afternoon. Why this delay?

 

ÉLISE: I guess I didn’t read through the material right away. There was a lot of material about the other cases you brought with you that we had to go through that day.

 

CERTAINLY-NOT- BĒRZIŅA: You were sitting at your desk while you were going through that material. You didn’t see the email alert on your screen? 

 

ÉLISE: I deactivate the alert when I’m working on something else. I don’t like to be disturbed!

 

_ She looks at all of her interrogators. _

 

ÉLISE (cont’c): Even if… just hypothetically… Eryka Klein - beside hiding in Latvia with the name Kristina Hamann - had yet another identity which she used when she was out killing people… Why would I have known about that name so that I could know that I should withhold the information about the rental car?

 

CERTAINLY-NOT- BĒRZIŅA: Well, maybe you just happened to stumble upon the name at some point when you were with her…? Or maybe you knew in detail about everything she did, because you worked together with her and while she provided the Russians with information about the European defence system, you did the same with information from inside the French police! How about that!?

The way you keep insisting that she is completely innocent, when it’s really pretty obvious that she is not, makes this possibility more and more plausible!

 

_ Élise and her stare at each other angrily for some moments. _

 

ÉLISE: Let’s put it this way: The only connection you have between Kristina Hamman and Violetta Grigoryeva is that they both were in Brussels on the 5th of April last year together with a woman who likes to put an unusual amount of Tabasco on her food. The woman who was at the hotel with Kristina Hamann was me. I’ve got no idea who the woman who was at the liberty bar with Violetta Grigoryeva was, but you can’t seriously base a case on the fact that there can’t be any more people than me who like to eat hot food?!

Everything you have is circumstantial at best!

 

_ She looks at  _ _ Certainly-not-Bērziņa provocatively. Certainly-not-Bērziņa stares back at her. She knows Élise is right if this is really all she’s got. _

 

ÉLISE: I told you all I know! Even if Eryka should have done everything you accuse her off - which she didn’t! - you can’t hold me just for having been together with her!! It’s more than 24 hours since you arrested me! So I assume I can go now?!

  
  


\---------------------

 

**A PARKING SPACE IN FRONT OF A LARGE BUILDING WITH A GARAGE GATE**

 

_ Élise and a guy in a white overall are standing beside her car. She signs some papers. _

_ The guy nods towards her and disappears inside through the garage door. Élise gets into her car. _

  
  


**INTERIOR OF ÉLISE’S CAR**

 

_ Élise sits in her car before starting the motor. Calming down for a few seconds after everything that happened in the last days. She puts her hands on the steering wheel and lets her forehead sink down on the top of the steering wheel. After a while she slowly lifts her head again.  _

 

**ÉLISE’S POV, THE REARVIEWMIRROR**

 

_ She looks at herself in the rearviewmirror. She looks exhausted. There is a black stain on her forehead. She sighs resignedly. _

  
  


Cut back to the broader angle:

**ÉLISE IN HER CAR**

 

_ She takes her hands up from the steering wheel and looks at them. They are smudgy as well from black fingerprint powder. _

_ She starts screaming and crying in frustration and anger, beating the steering wheel with her fists. _

 

\-----------------

 

**ERYKA’S INTERROGATION**

 

CERTAINLY-NOT- BĒRZIŅA: You screwed up, you realise that? You blew it!

 

_ Eryka seems almost too tired to care, even if it was true. _

 

ERYKA  _ (too tired to be alarmed) _ : Why?

 

CERTAINLY-NOT- BĒRZIŅA: You told us yesterday, that you just happened to have that phone left, that ultimately erases every phone call you might want to keep a secret.

But now you told us that the Russians informed you that Baturin wasn’t after you anymore so you risked it to ask Élise to use her credit card. So you still were in contact with the Russians! You didn’t just happen to have that phone left, you still did use it for secret communication.

 

ERYKA: Y esterday you asked if Élise and I used any communication devices to plan our meetings. To that the answer was no. Even if my phone could make untraceable phone calls, Élise’s couldn’t and there was the risk of someone tracing us on her end of the call.

That doesn’t mean that I couldn’t use the phone to  keep in contact with the people who had provided me with my new identity. I regularly checked if I still needed to hied, not to take any assignments from them.

_ (She pauses for some time). _ Look… If you don’t believe me, contact Henri Mignard in Boulogne-sur-mer. He’s a real estate agent, I talked to last week, because I wanted to buy the cabin we were staying at. I want to live there, close to Élise as soon as I got the final ok from the Russians that Baturin wasn’t a problem anymore. I reserved it under the name Eryka Klein, because that was the name I planned to go back to as soon as I got the all clear from Moscow. Contact him! Ask him!

 

_ The others look at each other. _

 

CERTAINLY-NOT- BĒRZIŅA: Well, I can assure you, that we will check that. Still… That might proof that you actually planned to become Eryka Klein again. It does not tell us anything about what you were up to the last three years...

  
  


\---------------------------

 

**CORRIDOR IN FRONT OF ÉLISE’S FLAT**

 

_ Élise walks along the corridor leading towards the door of her flat. She slows down when she's approaching her door. _

 

Cut to:

**THE DOOR OF ÉLISE’S FLAT**

 

_ We see the rest of a seal of the French police at the door and the doorpost. _

  
  


Cut back to:

**ÉLISE IN THE CORRIDOR**

 

_ She inhales deeply and puts the key into the door. _

  
  


**ÉLISE’S FLAT**

 

_ The flat is not in complete chaos but everything is out of place. The books are in piles on the floor. The drawers are drawn out of the cupboards and stacked up on top of each other in several piles. _

_ Élise stands by the door and looks at the mess, exhaustedly, resignedly. _

 

_ She kneels down in front of the base board beside her bed. She draws her fingers over the upper edge along the wall. She seems relieved. They haven't found her secret phone. _

 

_ She puts down her backpack and hangs up her jacket. She walks over to one of the piles of drawers and takes down the first two and puts them beside the pile on the floor. She takes a screwdriver out of the third one and kneels down in front of the base board again. _

  
  


**A CELLAR ROOM EQUIPPED WITH WASHING MACHINES**

 

_ Élise gets in and closes the door behind herself. She looks around suspiciously. Takes a look at the ceiling, but then decides that even if they might have tapped her flat, they probably didn’t tap the laundry room. _

_ The takes the mobile phone from her pocket and closes her eyes, concentrating. _

  
  


Flashback to:

**THE CORRIDOR AT THE POLICE STATION, ERYKA HUGGING ÉLISE**

 

(slow motion)

_ Eryka hugs Élise. _

  
  


**CLOSE-UP OF ERYKA’S FACE**

 

(slow motion)

_ Her mouth close to Élise’s ear. Her lips moving hectically, whispering. _

  
  


**CLOSE-UP OF ÉLISE’S FACE**

 

(slow motion)

_ Élise closes her eyes, listening concentratedly. _

 

Cut back to the broader angle:

**THE CORRIDOR AT THE POLICE STATION**

 

(slow motion)

_ They get drawn away from each other. _

 

(normal speed)

_ Élise looks after Eryka. Eryka stares back at her intensely, pleadingly, while she gets drawn away. _

  
  


Cut back to:

**THE LAUNDRY ROOM**

 

_ Élise opens her eyes again and concentratedly dials a number on the phone. _

_ After a few beeps a male voice answers in Russian. Élise hesitates for several moments. The person at the other side says something in Russian again, sounding impatient now. _

 

ÉLISE ( _ hesitantly _ ): Hello… This is Élise Wassermann…

 

_ She swallows. _

 

ÉLISE (cont’d): I’m calling on behalf of Eryka Klein… ( _ pause _ ) Or... Kristina Hamann… I don't know... ( _ pause, continuing a little more confident now _ ) She needs your help… I need your help...

 

\-----------------------

 

**ERYKA’S INTERROGATION**

 

OLIVIER: Ms. Klein… Or Ms. Hamann… I don't know, what you prefer in this situation… I think you know as well as I do, that you won’t get out of here. You will be charged with at least four  murders… Maybe more...

There is an easy way out of this for all of us: I'm sure you're sitting on an enormous amount of information that we would love to take part of… If we decide that those information are valuable enough for us, you can have a new passport by tonight with any name or background you choose. You can start looking for a flat and a job and start to make a new life in whatever city fits your new identity by tomorrow.

Or you can go back to your cell now and aside of further interrogations and your trail you will stay there for the rest of your life...

 

_ Eryka just looks stubbornly back at them. _

 

OLIVIER: It’s an offer… It’s your decision to take it or not...

  
  


\--------------------------

 

**ÉLISE’S CAR**

 

_ She drives into a parking space and turns off the engine. The radio is playing. _

 

RADIO:  **French to come** (SUBTITLES: In the cases of the polonium poisoning more and more cases seem to surface. By now there are seven confirmed cases all over Europe. There are at least six more cases where old cases of deaths are reexamined.

Russia strongly denied any accusations that the murders had anything to do with secret service activity on their behalf after several European countries had officially requested a statement from Russia.

According to unconfirmed information the two persons arrested yesterday in  Boulogne-sur-Mer are connected to the cases. One of the arrested seems to have been released already. Rumours that this person is a French police officer who is now released from duty until the case is resolved were not confirmed by the police.

For the other person suspicions seem to be heightened since custody has been extended for three more days.

It is said that the person still in custody worked in a very sensitive position within the Euroforce and…)

 

_ Élise switches off the radio. She gets out of the car. _

  
  


**A CAFE**

 

_ Karl is sitting at a table. _

_ Élise gets in and looks around. Karl lifts his hand. Élise spots him and walks towards him. She looks exhausted. She sits down in the chair across from him. _

 

KARL: Coffee?

 

_ Élise nods. _

 

KARL: How are you?

 

ÉLISE: Horrible!

 

KARL: Did the crime scene guys behave?

 

ÉLISE: They left a mess… Getting things clean form the fingerprint powder was the worst…   _ (A short ironic laugh)  _ Now I know what it's like to be on the other side. 

 

KARL: Do you think they found anything that could tell them, that you knew all along...?

 

_ Élise looks at him insecurely for a second. _

 

KARL: I’m not wearing a wire… In case you’re wondering...

 

_ After one more second of hesitation: _

 

ÉLISE: They would hardly have let me go, if they did, wouldn't they?

 

_ They sit in silence for a few seconds. Élise staring at the table in front of her, Karl looking at Élise. _

 

ÉLISE (softly): What will happen to her, Karl? What will they do to her in the interrogations, when there is information they want to get out of her?

 

KARL: I’m sure they’ll stick to the rules. It's European secret services, Élise. It's not the CIA. It's not the Russians.

 

ÉLISE: I would love to think that it makes a difference…

 

KARL: I’m sure it does!

 

_ Élise snorts. _

 

_ They sit in quite for some time. _

 

KARL (cont’d): Did you know about the murders?

 

ÉLISE: I found out at some point, but I didn’t know before…  _ (After a pause)  _ But that hardly matters. I knew what she was up to… I just didn’t know that it were just THESE murders...

 

KARL: They offered her a deal…

 

ÉLISE: What kind of deal?

 

KARL: Providing the western secret services with everything she knows and for that they would provide her with a secret identity to disappear to wherever she wanted...

 

ÉLISE: What did she say?

 

KARL: Nothing yet… I think, she’s thinking about it.  _ (After a pause) _ They offered to get a secret identity for both of you so you could disappear with her. She immediately declined that offer. She didn’t want you to be on the run for the rest of her life because of her.

 

_ Karl looks at Élise intensely. _

 

KARL (cont’d,  _ after some hesitation _ ): I was wondering if you want me to give her a message?

I suppose she would take the offer, if she knew that you would be willing to join her…

 

_ Élise snorts. _

 

ÉLISE: We were finally leaving all the hiding and running behind us!  _ (after a pause) _ It makes you crazy, Karl. After some time… It’s just… We wouldn’t be in this mess, if we wouldn’t have gotten careless in Brussels. Sooner or later you make a mistake…

 

KARL: I know… But I think, it’s her only chance, Élise!

 

_ Élise gets up. _

 

ÉLISE: I need to go to the toilette…

 

_ When she walks by Karl’s chair she brushes against his jacket that hung over the back of the chair. She knocks it down on the floor. _

 

ÉLISE ( _ mumbling _ ): Sorry…

 

_ She takes it up from the floor and brushes some dirt off of it before she hangs it up again. She disappears towards the toilette. _

  
  


_ \------------------- _

 

**ERYKA’S HOLDING CELL**

 

_ Eryka is lying on the bed. She’s staring at the cross-barred window. The image flashes over for just a second to: _

 

**A MAN’S FACE**

 

_ It’s the American that we saw in the previous flashback. We see his face from 7-year old Eryka’s perspective, while he’s raping her. His face is grimacing, he’s approaching his climax. _

 

_ After just a second flashing to: _

 

**7-YEAR OLD ERYKA’S FACE**

 

_ Her head turned to the side. Not looking at him. Just waiting for things to be over. _

 

_ After another second flashing back to: _

 

**ERYKA ON THE BED IN THE HOLDING CELL**

 

_ She jumps up and starts to pace hastily. She reaches the wall after just a few steps and turns around, looking around in the claustrophobically small cell. _

  
  


_ \------------------- _

 

**KARL’S AND ÉLISE’S TABLE AT THE CAFÉ**

 

_ Élise comes back from the toilet. She sits down again. _

 

KARL: So… What do you want me to tell her?

 

ÉLISE: We’re not together anymore, so… There’s really no reason why I should go with her…

 

KARL  _ (surprised) _ : What do you mean?! You’re not together anymore?  _ (After a pause:) _ It’s not because of this Gantmann guy, is it?! You know that she was still working as a spy, so you know that her relationship with him was just a part of that, don’t you?

 

_ Élise snorts. _

 

ÉLISE: She once told me that when you live with a secret identity you need to become the person you are pretending to be; otherwise it doesn’t work. So while they were together she WAS Kristina Hamann and Kristina Hamann was his…

 

KARL:  Élise! Do you know that she had already arranged to buy the house in Boulogne-sur-mer? To live close to you after she could return to her old identity? She wanted to be with you!

 

ÉLISE: It’s not about him… Right before the special forces came in I told her that it was over! At that moment I had no idea that Tobias Gantmann even existed.

 

KARL: Then why…?

 

ÉLISE: I always knew what she was doing, but I always tried to ignore it! But that becomes very difficult once it ends up on your desk!

 

KARL: Wow… Élise Wassermann admits that sometimes it’s better to not know the truth?!

 

ÉLISE: Yes… but I do know! And I can’t love someone who’s..

 

KARL  _ (interrupting her) _ : Élise… You spent that last 24 hours trying to convince everyone that she is innocent even if that makes you look very guilty yourself!

 

ELISE: Just because I don’t love her, doesn't mean that I don’t care if she goes to prison for the rest of her life.

 

KARL: You’re risking your own head for her! That’s not something you’re willing to do for someone you don’t love!

 

ÉLISE ( _ swallowing, softly _ ): You’ve got no idea, what I’m willing to do for her!

 

_ They sit in silence for some time. _

 

KARL: So you want me to tell her… That when she takes the offer you won’t go with her?

 

_ Élise shakes her head. _

 

ÉLISE: No! I want you to tell her to not take an offer that will make her a fugitive for the rest of her life, when they have nothing to lock her up anyway!

 

_ Karl snorts. _

 

KARL: You know as well as I do, that sooner or later they will find something.

 

ÉLISE: No, they won’t!  _ (intensely)  _ They won't! Tell her that!

 

_ Karl looks at her confused for a moment. Then: _

 

KARL ( _ softly _ ): Ok… _ (After a pause) _ Shall I stay with you tonight? I can imagine you’d rather not be alone right now…

 

ÉLISE ( _ immediately, firmly _ ): No… No, thank you… You should go home to your family. I’ll keep myself occupied, I have to clean up the mess the crime scene guys left…

  
  


**AT THE ENTRANCE OF THE CAFE**

 

_ While Karl and Élise leave, a man comes in. He bumps into Karl. _

 

Man ( _ mumbling _ ): Sorry…

 

_ Élise pushes the door open. The man bends down to the floor and gets up again. _

 

Man ( _ strong Eastern European accent _ ): Sir? You lost something, Sir!

 

_ He hands Karl something he apparently picked up from the floor. _

  
  


**CLOSE-UP OF A CREDIT CARD-SIZED CARD IN THE GUY’S HAND**

 

_ A card with a strap to wear the card around the neck. We see Karl’s picture on it. The logo of the French police in the upper right corner. We recognize the terms “Carte de accès”, “Visiteur” and “Limité dans le temps”  _ (Subtitles: Access card, Visitor, Temporary)

  
  


Cut to the broader angle:

**THE ENTRANCE OF THE CAFE**

 

_ Élise is holding the door open, waiting for Karl. _

 

KARL: Oh, Jesus! Thanks a lot!

 

_ He takes the card and follows Élise out to the parking lot. _

  
  


**THE PARKING LOT**

 

_ Élise is standing beside her car. Karl drives by with his car and waves at her, before he drives off. After he disappears around the corner, the man who gave Karl his access card back walks towards Élise. _

 

ÉLISE: Did it work?

 

MAN: Yes, sure it did…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know what you think!


End file.
